Australia’s first ever Smart Village in Newington was launched on Saturday where appliances can be switched on and off remotely using an iPhone, people can get around on plug in electric scooters and energy costs and carbon emissions are graphed minute by minute on individual household webpages.

Mum, Dad, two kids and a dog will open their doors for a sneak peak at the households of the future 26 Lewis Way (on the corner of Kuts Ave), Newington

“The 1000 home Smart Village is a huge step towards smarter, cheaper and greener energy and water solutions for the people of NSW,” said Mr Robertson. “This is a living breathing trial where ordinary households and families are having their homes and electrical set-up retrofitted with the latest and greatest technology available.

“This new technology in Newington homes will give families their first detailed picture of their energy and water use, including costs and greenhouse gas emissions, via in-house displays and household websites.

“Smart Village homes will be able to turn appliances on and off remotely using iPhones and websites, compare energy use through neighbourhood competitions and use plug-in electric vehicles.

“Smart-grid technology has the potential to massively reduce energy consumption and will become increasingly important as Australia makes the transition to a low-carbon economy.

“This project will provide an important insight into how technology can be used to make every home more climate-friendly in the future.

“The whole electricity grid in the Smart Village zone will be upgraded with new communication technologies that enable customers to access more information than ever about their energy usage.”

“Behind the scenes the EnergyAustralia network for Newington will feature the world-first use of many smart grid technologies – from fourth-generation wireless communications, to smart sensors in substations, together with fully-connected home area networks in households.

“This trial is acting as a test bed for the most innovative technology being developed in labs around the world,” said Mr Robertson.

The NSW Government has contributed $1.5 million to the two year trial through the Climate Change Fund to help transform Newington and Silverwater into Australia’s first smart-grid suburbs.

The traditional electricity network will be transformed and for the first time, new smart technologies will allow two-way communication between a series of smart devices on the network and in homes, to deliver instant information about energy and water use.

The trial will also give EnergyAustralia and Sydney Water instant information about their networks to allow for improved power and water supply due to faster fault location and repair, and more targeted preventive maintenance.

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