More Solar Power For The Hills Shire Council

Another 126 solar panels have been racked up on a council building in The Hills Shire in New South Wales.

Referred to as “Sydney’s Garden Shire”, the local government area is situated in the north west of the metropolitan area, occupying an area from Baulkham Hills and West Pennant Hills in the south to Wisemans Ferry in the north. The Shire had an estimated resident population in 2021 of 192,509 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Council is pretty protective of the region’s natural environment; with a substantial portion of the Shire covered by vegetation, waterways and wetlands. While it’s not clear where Council currently stands on climate change and corporate emissions, something it is certainly conscious of is energy costs.

Last week, The Hills Shire Council announced it had installed two new solar systems at its Norwest administration building, adding to the 400 existing panels already installed on its rooftop. The organisation says the new panels will generate approximately an additional 73,000 kWh of clean electricity in their first year. While the size of the new panels or their total capacity wasn’t mentioned, if they were around 400W each that estimate would work out around right and perhaps even be a little conservative.

An Early Adopter Of Commercial Solar

The Hills Shire Council isn’t a newcomer to the benefits of commercial solar power. It was an early adopter, installing a total of 41kW capacity across four sites during the 2011-12 financial year. And those weren’t the earliest installations as there are references to at least three others that preceded them.

“We’ve grown to having a total of 420 kW of solar power across our network, providing even more green energy than ever before,” said Mayor of The Hills Shire, Dr Peter Gangemi (pictured above). “The solar panel project is another illustration of Council’s continued commitment to the environment.”

Among some of the other more recent installations is a 99kW solar system installed on the roof of the Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre in Baulkham Hills last year. Another was a 40kW system installed on the roof of Vinegar Hill Memorial Library and Community Centre at Rouse Hill Town Centre in 2021.

Solar Energy And The Hills Shire Community

Council is doing its bit on reining in energy related emissions – even if that may not be the main focus of its solar uptake – and so too is the wider community. Estimates from the Australian Photovoltaic Institute indicate approximately 33.9% of free-standing and semi-detached dwellings in The Hills Shire have solar panels. This is higher than the state-wide figure of around 29.5%.

According to SnapshotClimate, the LGA’s major emissions source in 2020/21 was electricity consumption, with the greatest single contributor to that being residential electricity use (40%).

Whether it’s The Hills Shire or somewhere else in the metro area, there are a bunch of great solar installers in Sydney that can help households and businesses slash their emissions – and electricity bills.