More Cash For Brisbane Clubs To Go Solar

More clubs in the Brisbane City Council local government area will have solar panels installed under its Resilient Clubs Support Program.

The Program is an initiative delivered in partnership with Council’s Brisbane Sustainability Agency, with support provided to invited clubs leasing facilities from Council.

A couple of weeks ago, Lord Mayor Adrian Schinner announced Council will be tipping a further $400,000 into the program, which will assist up to twenty more clubs in slashing their electricity bills.

“We want to put more money back into the pockets of Brisbane’s clubs so they can redirect this money into areas that benefit their community and their members,” said Cr Schrinner.

32 community clubs have had systems installed under the program to date, which will collectively save the beneficiary clubs $200,000 in energy costs annually. During this financial year, the second year the program has been running, up to 500kW of solar power capacity will be installed.

500kW of solar panels installed in Brisbane could generate around 816,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year – that’s not just great for the clubs, but also for displacing fossil-based electricity generation.

In addition to the installation of solar energy systems, some of the other actions supported under the Resilient Clubs Support Program include:

• activities such as energy and water efficiency audits.
• development of a ‘Water and Energy Efficiency Action Plan’, and support to assist in implementing the plan.
• installation of energy monitoring systems.
• a range of other water and energy related infrastructure upgrades.

Further information on the program can be found on the Brisbane Sustainability Agency website or by contacting Council.

Brisbane City Council – Renewable Energy And Emissions

Council’s carbon footprint for 2019-20 was 596,882 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Landfill, fuel use and construction made up 54% of that total, with the remainder from indirect supply chain resources. But Council purchases independently verified carbon offsets eligible under the Australian Government’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Organisations.

“Council is the only carbon neutral certified organisation in Australia with an operating landfill and large public transport service,” states this page.

Emissions from Council buildings and facilities and controlled streetlights were zero in 2019-20, as these were 100% powered by renewable energy.

Some of  renewables goodness was provided by on-site solar energy systems – more than 2.2MW of PV capacity had been installed at as December last year, which is generating approximately 3,300 megawatt hours of electricity annually. Council also purchased around 47,000 MWh of renewable electricity in 2019-20.

Looking ahead, Brisbane City Council is investing more than $23 million over the next four years on new energy efficiency projects, as well as preparing to install what it says will be its ” largest solar installation” at the Brisbane Metro depot in Rochedale. The size of that system isn’t clear.

The depot will support the new battery electric Brisbane Metro fleet, which will initially be 60 vehicles. Flash charging technology will be utilised, which can recharge a vehicle in under six minutes and enable all-day operation on a single charge.

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