John Buchelin started out as an Electrify 2515 volunteer, letterboxing flyers on local streets with his daughter after soccer practice. Two years on, he’s the operations manager for the new community pilot, a partnership by non-profit Rewiring Australia, green lender Brighte and Endeavour Energy, with $5.4 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
It’s been a heady few weeks for Electrify 2515. First they welcomed Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen to Thirroul to announce their pilot, then came the Sunday afternoon community launch on November 10, when 600 people packed into Anita’s Theatre. Speaking the day after, John said the team was still on a high.
“We’ve had over 200 people apply already, which has been really positive,” he said.
“Out of the 200, we’ve already seen 10 say, ‘Yes, I’ll donate my subsidy.’ So we can spread the money around to households that need it the most.”
Electrify 2515’s Community Pilot is a triumph for the volunteers, who’ve put in years of unpaid advocacy, from night-time meetings to weekend events. Now, as their dream becomes reality, Rewiring Australia has set up offices in Thirroul and hired four staff members dedicated to the pilot.
Path to leadership
Over the next couple of years, John will oversee the pilot, gathering data from 500 homes to show the benefits of electrification and speed up the big switch for all 11 million Australian households.
Our new community leader is an Austinmer resident, a father of three young children whose previous career was in insurance.
John was born in Los Angeles, to Australian parents, and grew up in Lismore.
“My dad was a fitter and turner and that was a really sought-after job in the States at the time.
“I moved to Lismore when I was five.
“I never went to uni. I did a year of accounting at TAFE and then worked out I didn’t want to be an accountant.”
For a year in Brisbane, John worked as a sales rep. “My career took off when I joined Allianz Insurance in 2006. I always liked business, I liked innovation, doing new things. I ended up staying at Allianz for 18 years.”
John started in the call centre and worked his way up. “The last part of my career was in the sustainability team, so that was doing all of our carbon accounting and our net zero plans, like moving our fleet to EVs and using more renewable energy.”
Growing up in Lismore and working in insurance, John knew about climate change. He’d seen floods wash through friends’ yards and the financial fallout of extreme weather. Like many emerging climate advocates, he’d watched Al Gore’s The Inconvenient Truth, but in 2010 it was a book that really set him on the path to action.
“I read a book called This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein. It just put everything into perspective. Allianz was also very big on the climate change being a massive risk… Being a German company, the European Union was much more progressive, so we would often have to follow what the EU were doing. So I could see how one part of the world was going in one direction, and in Australia we just kept going round in circles.”
First steps to Electrify
In 2017, John, his wife, speech therapist Jessica Buchelin, and their six-month-old daughter moved from Sydney to Austinmer and fell in love with the region between the mountains and the sea.
A few years later, when they were looking to buy an EV, John met Electrify 2515 core team members Jeremy Park and Trent Jansen at the launch of Claire O’Rourke’s book, Together We Can, in Coledale. “We came up with the idea of just having a car park full of EVs with owners to chat about their experience. That turned out to be a really big event. Thirroul car park was just overflowing for about three hours.”
Three hundred people and 35 cars pulled into October 2022’s impromptu EV Open Day. The next year, they moved it to Club Thirroul, adding market stalls and speakers. In 2025, the team hopes to run a full Electric Expo.
John remembers 2022’s event as his first real foray into community engagement. “I ended up buying a second-hand EV – we’ve put 50,000ks on it in two years. I’ve worked out we’ve already saved about seven grand.
“It’s the original Hyundai Ioniq, so it’s a 2019 model. It was the smallest car I could get three car seats into. It can only do about 250ks on a single charge, but that’s all we need.”
His own home is powering through electrification, with a 5kW solar system, electric hot water, air-conditioning and stove, although plans to renovate and install a battery will have to wait “until the two-year-old sleeps a bit better”.
In July, he took on the job at Rewiring Australia.
“It was a bit of a risk to jump away from a large multinational corporation to a small little non-profit. But the team’s been excellent, the work’s been really enjoyable.”
His family is delighted. “I can now do more pick-ups and drop offs because I’m not commuting. The kids, especially the older two, are really supportive. Sophie is now eight, and then we’ve got a six-year-old and then a two-year-old.”
Let’s get this pilot started
As operations manager, John will run the pilot for Rewiring Australia, and his team are moving fast. The Monday after the Anita’s launch, the first free smart energy device was being installed, thanks to groundwork laid in an Electrify 2515 ‘expressions of interest’ survey back in 2022.
“From the original 1500 applications, we’d already recruited 10 homes to be part of the first round,” John said. “They’ve got batteries, solar, they’ve got everything – so there’s nothing more they can electrify.”
Only 500 of the postcode’s 4712 homes can take part in the pilot but, with volunteer Denise Aubourg spearheading a new Electrify Illawarra group, the local movement is growing and they’d like to arrange discounted ‘bulk buys’ for everyone.
John said Dr Saul Griffith’s speech at the Anita’s launch was a particularly proud moment.
“Saying what we’re doing is world leading – to hear that straight from Saul was amazing.
“He’s the one pushing us. He’s the one who sets the – as he called it last night – ‘the lighthouse project’ for the whole world to follow.
“He’s our lighthouse. He’s the one 20 metres out in the front going, ‘Come, come with me. This is where we’re heading.’ We’re very, very lucky to work with him.”
Fast Facts
What: Electrify 2515 Community Pilot
Why: Research pilot to prove electrification saves cash and carbon emissions
Who: Renters and home owners in 2515 postcode, from Clifton to Thirroul
Selection: 500 participants chosen to reflect range of dwellings and demographics
Free: Smart energy device to monitor energy use and switchboard upgrades if needed
Subsidies for: Reverse-cycle air-conditioners, induction cooktops to replace gas, electric hot water systems to replace gas, home batteries
No Subsidies for: Solar panels, EVs
Fair spread: Lower income, higher subsidies
Your choice: Donate subsidy to support others
Out of pocket: $500 to $2500 per appliance, see calculator on website
When: Pilot from Oct 2024-April 2027. Stage 1: 60 homes, Dec 2024-April 2025 Stage 2: 440 homes, apply by March 30, starts Aug 2026
What else: Bulk buys tipped for those not in pilot
More info: www.electrify2515.org, book a phone chat, pop-up stalls at Coledale Markets and Thirroul Community Centre
Read more: Electrify 2515: A postcard from the future by Dr Saul Griffith, Locals share their views and see more photos from the Community Pilot Launch in the Flame's report