Stockland Ampere Brings Net-Zero Energy Home Design To Aura

Stockland has launched Ampere at Aura, a 190-terraced-home neighbourhood in Banya designed around solar, batteries, all-electric systems and household energy management from the start of the build.

Sunshine Coast News reported on 29 July that Ampere is set to become Stockland's first Australian neighbourhood where homes are designed to achieve net-zero energy. Each home is planned to include a solar and battery system designed to generate up to 120 per cent of household energy needs, with expected savings of up to $2000 a year and up to four tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions avoided for a typical household.

Stockland's own announcement describes Ampere as a new all-electric village within Aura, while RACQ says its solar arm is supporting delivery of the precinct's solar and battery systems. RACQ's 29 July update says homes will include solar, low-carbon concrete, battery storage, smart energy management and EV-ready garages, with a three-year EnergyFlex subscription to help residents monitor and improve energy use.

The property significance is not only that the homes have panels on roofs. Solar is common across the Sunshine Coast. What makes Ampere notable is the attempt to design an energy system at neighbourhood level rather than leaving each owner to retrofit technology later. Batteries, smart meters, digital water meters, EV-ready garages and all-electric appliances are being treated as core infrastructure, not optional extras.

That distinction matters in a growth corridor like Aura. Banya and the surrounding Caloundra South communities are absorbing a large share of the region's population growth. New homes built now will shape household energy demand, transport behaviour and living costs for decades. If sustainable systems are included at settlement rather than added piecemeal, more households can start with lower grid reliance and clearer information about their consumption.

Stockland senior development manager Genaea Keith told Sunshine Coast News that the design aimed to help owners live more sustainably from the day they move in. RACQ Solar CEO Rob Chambers framed the project as a way to make clean and reliable energy more accessible for Queensland households. Those claims will be tested by price, delivery quality, actual usage patterns and whether the energy savings model matches how families live through summer heat, remote work, cooking, hot water and EV charging.

Builder partners Thompson Sustainable Homes and NuTrend Homes will deliver the first release, and residents are anticipated to move in from early 2027. Ampere will sit less than 2km from the future Aura Town Centre and Aura Parklands, meaning the neighbourhood's sustainability credentials will also depend on local services, walkability, cycling connections and future public transport, not energy technology alone.

For the wider Sunshine Coast property market, Ampere adds a practical benchmark. Buyers are increasingly weighing running costs and resilience, not only floor plans and finishes. A precinct that packages battery storage, monitoring and all-electric design may push competing developments to explain their own energy strategy more clearly. The headline is net-zero design, but the deeper issue is whether new growth areas can lower household costs while reducing the infrastructure burden they place on the region.