Energise Gloucester Newsletter No 19

Chairman’s Note

Dear Members,

By now we had hoped to be telling you about our success with a grant for the Community Solar Farm. However, the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment is still assessing the applications. We are still optimistic about being successful and receiving a grant of about $460,000 for the project. See below for more information.

Our next event will be our Annual General Meeting in November. Details about this are in this Newsletter. If you would like to join the Energise Gloucester Committee, please let me know by email or phone. We would really appreciate your ideas and help.

We are developing a new project to help you ensure that you get the best financial return for your solar system investment. Unfortunately, many people are either still paying too much for the electricity that they purchase from the grid, or not getting a good price for selling their excess electricity to the grid. Some explanation for this project is presented below.

Yours with energy,
David Marston
Chair

Community Solar Farm

If we are successful in receiving the grant, we will need to make a final site selection. So, it’s not too late to nominate a site. It needs to be:

• 1-2 hectares of level or uniformly sloping land facing north;
• Close to a standard 11kVA transformer and a 3,000V power line;
• Have good access but not very close to a main road or highly visible;
• Flood free and without shade from trees;
• Available for a 20-year lease;

If we get the grant, the project will start in a few months and be generating electricity in about 2 years. Energise Gloucester wl be seeking investment funds from the community and paying interest for this. The details of this will be announced in a few months after a Management Board is established. Further information on investments and management positions will be announced in this Newsletter.

BWNG Solar Roof Project

This project is continuing to generate extremely well in the dry sunny weather. BWNG is continuing to buy-back the system with payments for electricity used and this has enabled Energise Gloucester to repay 40% of the money lent by community members.
It’s a good news story.

Solar for Renters

Energise Gloucester is developing this project in association with MC Council. This will help tenants to reduce their electricity costs. It will also add value to the Council real estate. A similar project is operating in Walcha and other towns in NSW.

Getting the best from your solar system

There are of course considerable environmental benefits in simply having a solar system on your property. It reduces the amount of electricity that is generated from non-renewable sources (coal and gas).

It also helps you save money by reducing the amount of electricity that you buy from the grid. Home generated solar electricity costs nothing once the system has paid for itself. It does this by saving you about 30cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity you generate and then use yourself. It important, therefore, to use as much of the electricity you generate because this will reduce the amount you have to buy from the grid.

A good way to do this is to use as much as possible when the sun is shining and only operate the big energy users, such as washing machines, dishwashers and hot water heaters when your system is generating. For example, for years we were encouraged to heat our hot water at night using “off peak” or “controlled load” when electricity was not in high demand.

It’s a simple matter (but you need to get an electrician) to switch your hot water so that you heat during day when you are generating your own electricity. It is also worth thinking about how and when you use air conditioners and room heaters, so that they are effective as well as economical. The program will explain these concepts.

Getting the highest value for the electricity you sell to the grid is also very important. Some people are only getting 8 cents per kWh from their Provider, while others are getting 21 cents. Similarly, it is critical to pay the lowest price for the electricity that you buy and this can vary by several cents per kWh between providers. All of this adds up.

The clue here is to understand your account and the information it contains. The project will help to explain where all this information is in your account and how to find it. To do this we plan to run workshops to help groups and individuals work towards getting good value.

Goulburn Community Solar Farm

Community Energy 4 Goulburn (CE4G) is developing a community solar farm. They received NSW government funding 2 years ago to help develop the concept and explore management options. We have been able to use some of this information and their experience in our application.

CE4G is a not-for-profit group and plans to build a 1.8MW community solar farm in the Southern Tablelands. This is 3 times the size that EG is proposing to build.

They have formed a partnership with local company, Komo Energy for development services of its proposed community-owned solar farm. They are now forming a co-operative to manage the farm and will be inviting people to become members. CE4G president Ed Suttle said the deal with Komo will enable it to finalise property lease, planning and procurement of equipment and services for the solar farm.

They have secured economist and former LNP Federal leader Dr John Hewson as chair of the Co-operative Board that will manage the solar farm.

Ed Suttle said a minimum of 51 per cent of the farm must be owned by the community, and CE4G already has around 120 interested investors. A single share of around $400-$500 will buy a solar panel which will be connected to the solar farm’s battery and the grid. The investor gets a dividend.

The aim of their project has always been to produce renewable energy in the region and to offer local people the opportunity to invest in the project. This is the same as the aims for the proposed "Gloucester Community Solar Farm".

When complete the Goulburn Solar Farm will generate enough power for between 400-500 homes. Our Solar Farm will be designed to generate enough power for between 125 - 150 homes.

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