Barwon Water Becomes Sustainable Housing Estate Developer

Victoria’s Barwon Water is turning surplus land previously forming part of the Highton Basin landholding into a sustainable housing estate, with all homes to have solar power systems.

Cumulus Highton is located in Highton, a suburb of Geelong. The site will feature 30 fully serviced vacant lots available in land sizes up to 685m2. There are also two larger blocks that will be used for medium density homes.

The design guidelines state Cumulus Highton will be “a new benchmark in sustainable living.” Among the minimum requirements for houses built are:

• All houses will be required to have a minimum Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) 7.5 star energy rating.
• A “battery-ready” 3.5kW (minimum) solar power system.
• Rainwater tanks of at least 5,000 litres capacity per dwelling. Tanks must be plumbed to toilet, laundry and outdoor areas.
• Each dwelling must have electrical wiring capable of providing a 32A supply to the garage, carport or driveway to allow for electric vehicle charging
• A minimum WELS rating of 4 for all plumbing outlets in the home except shower outlets, which should have a minimum WELS rating of 3.

A 3.5kW solar power system isn’t very big by today’s standards and given the price difference between this size and larger systems, no doubt many will opt for bigger systems to get the best bang for buck – and to help with home electric vehicle charging. Regarding the “battery-ready” bit – almost all solar power systems are battery ready, but some are more so than others. But if energy storage is to be a future addition, factoring this in ahead of time assists with system design.

House designs for Cumulus Highton will also be smiled upon favourably if they observe passive solar design principles, such as west facing windows minimised to protect from solar heat gain during the hotter months.

“Through design, technology and practice, Cumulus Highton embraces a vision of a world in which people enjoy happy, healthy lives within their fair share of the earth’s resources, leaving space for wildlife and wilderness,” says Barwon Water.

The two largest lots at Cumulus Highton are already up for grabs, with the others expected to be released to market later this year.

Barwon Water And Solar Energy

On a related note, we’ve mentioned Barwon Water a couple of times here on SQ in relation to its own solar energy efforts. Here’s where the water corporation is currently at with solar power:

• Black Rock solar farm – Originally 1MW capacity, Black Rock Solar Farm was expended to 3 megawatts in the middle of last year and now directly supplies up to 35 per cent of the electricity consumed by the Black Rock Water Reclamation Plant.
• Wurdee Boluc solar farm and battery – A 300kW solar array and a 200 kilowatt-hour battery energy storage system completed in December last year.
• Torquay solar array – A 720-panel solar array adjacent to Barwon Water’s storage site in Torquay.
• Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) ­– Through a partnership with twelve water corporations in Victoria, Barwon Water entered into a PPA with Kiamal Solar Farm last year that will supply up to 30% of its needs.

Barwon Water is aiming to run on 100% renewables by 2025 and reach zero net emissions by 2030.