NBN reducing greenhouse gas emissions with solar power

NBN Co has made further progress on its commitment to 100 per cent renewable electricity purchases from December 20251 with the signing of the company’s third Renewable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) – a 10-year PPA that will enable construction of a new solar farm in south east Queensland.

nbn has contracted to take approximately 59 Gigawatt hours (GWh) per year – or more than 20 per cent of the expected power generated by the 467 hectare solar farm at Munna Creek, near Gympie.

Munna Creek is the second solar farm to be constructed and operated by Mytilineos Energy & Metals as a result of a PPA signed by nbn.

In July 2023, a new solar farm at West Wyalong in the Riverina area of New South Wales, was officially completed and switched on. This was enabled by nbn’s first PPA – a 10-year agreement where the company has contracted to take approximately 90 GWh per annum.

In October 2023, nbn announced its second PPA at a wind farm operated by AGL at Macarthur in south west Victoria. The company has contracted to take approximately 90 GWh per year throughout the six year agreement.

Once complete, the Munna Creek solar farm will include approximately 255,000 solar panels. During the construction phase, approximately 150 local jobs are expected to be created.

Power generation is anticipated to begin in July 2025 and electricity generated by the solar farm is expected to be enough to power the equivalent of 41,000 Australian homes.

The solar farms enabled by nbn’s PPAs support additional renewables penetration into the grid and play a key role in Australia’s goal of achieving 82 per cent renewables penetration into the grid by 2030 – as the nation transitions to net zero by 2050.

The company’s target of 100 per cent renewable electricity purchases from December 20252 is underpinned by membership of the RE100, a global renewable electricity initiative comprising approximately 400 of the world’s largest businesses. nbn was the first Australian telecommunications company and first Australian Government Business Enterprise to join RE100.

In June 2023, nbn committed to long-term greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction targets2 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, or sooner, via the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).3

This follows nbn setting near-term science-based emissions reduction targets, which have now been validated by the SBTi,3 and are as follows:

Reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 95 per cent by FY2030 compared to FY2021 as the base year. Scope 1 and 2 are the emissions generated from the consumption of fuel in nbn’s fleet and back-up diesel generators, and the purchase of electricity from the grid to power the nbn® network.
Reducing Scope 3 GHG emissions from use of sold products by 60 per cent per device by FY2030 compared to FY2021 as the base year.
Committing that 80 per cent of suppliers by spend, covering purchased goods and services, capital goods and downstream transportation and distribution, will have science-based targets by FY2027.
nbn is committed to improving the overall resilience of the nbn network to the impacts of climate change, rolling out more energy-efficient fibre to enable long-term reductions in network power demand and taking energy-efficient fibre deeper into communities to meet the growing digital demands of Australia’s homes and businesses.

The company is on track to enable up to 10 million premises, or around 90 per cent of premises on the Fixed Line network, to access the nbn® Home Ultrafast wholesale speed tier, which is capable of achieving peak wholesale download speeds of 500 Mbps to close to 1 Gbps4, by the end of 2025.

In partnership with the Government, NBN Co is also investing a further $750 million5 in the nbn® Fixed Wireless network to deliver faster speeds for regional Australia, benefitting customers in thousands of homes and businesses.

nbn® Fixed Wireless infrastructure sites will have their coverage enhanced and footprint coverage expanded by up to 50 per cent, enabling approximately 120,000 former satellite-only premises to access nbn® Fixed Wireless services for the first time.

The company’s 100 per cent renewables commitment covers both current and future network infrastructure.

Stephen Rue, Chief Executive Officer at NBN Co, said: “Our network investment plan is taking fibre deeper into communities, improving and extending Fixed Wireless coverage and Satellite capabilities to deliver faster speeds and greater capacity, and delivering an excellent customer experience.

“As a significant consumer of electricity, we understand the importance of using new renewable energy sources to power the nbn network, while also driving down emissions and our own operating costs.

“This latest PPA is an important step towards powering the nbn network through 100 per cent renewable electricity from December 2025.”