Bendigo Weighs Green Tech Promise Against Supply Risks and Data Ethics

Bendigo launched its largest municipal green tech rollout on 3 July when the city installed 420 smart-grid sensors along Hargreaves Street and the adjacent View Street corridor.

The timing follows the federal government’s revised 2030 emissions target released in May, which requires regional centres to cut energy use 35 percent by 2028. Bendigo’s tech sector, now employing 4,800 people, sees an opening but also faces questions about mineral sourcing for batteries and who controls the data the sensors collect.

Local projects test new hardware

At the Bendigo Innovation Precinct on View Street, engineers are trialling perovskite solar films on the roof of the former post office building. Two blocks away, the Sandhurst Business Park on the old railway yards site has replaced diesel forklifts with hydrogen units supplied under a three-year contract signed in March. Both sites report lower operating costs, yet each depends on imported rare-earth components whose mining records remain opaque.

City records show the View Street installation cost $2.1 million and is expected to offset 180 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The Sandhurst Park project, funded partly by the state’s Regional Clean Energy Fund, lists a $4.7 million price tag and a projected 12-year payback period.

Data ownership and sourcing questions surface

The sensors on Hargreaves Street transmit usage patterns every 90 seconds to a private operator based in Melbourne. Residents living within 200 metres of the devices have not received formal notice about how long the data will be stored or whether it can be sold. Meanwhile, the perovskite films contain indium sourced from a single mine in South America that has faced repeated labour complaints since 2024.

A 2025 Australian Renewable Energy Agency audit found that 28 percent of green-tech components installed in regional Victoria last year lacked verified chain-of-custody documentation. Bendigo’s procurement policy still requires only self-declaration from suppliers.

City staff have scheduled a public forum at the Capital Theatre on 28 July to discuss revised procurement rules. Residents can review the draft policy on the council website before submitting comments by 22 July. The meeting will also cover whether data from the new sensors should remain under local government control rather than move to a commercial cloud service.