Greater Shepparton City Council Reaping The Benefits Of Solar Energy

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Victoria’s Greater Shepparton City Council is pleased with the performance to date of its most recent solar energy installations.

Council installed solar panels on the Mooroopna Hub and Doyles Road Complex (DRC) buildings earlier this year. It says the 170 solar panels at the Mooroopna Community hub (56kW system) resulted in a mains grid electricity usage decrease of approximately 42 percent from the beginning of March to the end of April. A 302 panel system installed at the Doyles Road Complex (Council Depot – 99kW) has provided a 32% reduction in mains electricity consumption over the same period.

“Council is consistently seeking paths to improve the environment we live in and to address climate change,” said Director Sustainable Development Geraldine Christou. “The added solar panels are proving to be one step closer to Council’s target goal of reducing energy usage by 20 per cent by 2020.”

Previous to these installations, a 90kw system was installed at Council’s Welsford Street offices, and a 30kw system at the Shepparton Sports Stadium.

Proposed future installations include PV projects at Aquamoves and the Shepparton Saleyards.

Greater Shepparton Chief Executive Officer Peter Harriott says through its own examples Council hopes to educate and encourage the local community to implement sustainable practices in their homes and businesses. But it looks like many Greater Shepparton residents are already well on their way with solar power.

In the local government area, there are an estimated 6,844 solar power installations and the Australian PV Institute (APVI) says 22.6% of dwellings have PV installed. As well as home solar, small commercial solar installations (10kW – 100kW) are quite popular, with 389 noted.

There are seven large scale PV installations recorded by APVI, being:

• University of Melbourne Dookie Campus – 168.1kW
• Midland Highway Orrvale – 509kW
• Martin St Tatura – 148kW
• FJ Lenne Ardmona – 500kW
• Callister St Shepparton – 750.6kW
• SCS Shepparton – 300kW
• Masalki Cool Stores – 500.6kW

Large Scale Solar Energy Projects Still In Limbo

Much larger projects are also in the works for the region, but these were referred the State Government for development approval decisions. Council found itself in a bit of tricky position; trying to balance the benefits solar power can bring the region with concerns over the potential impact on agriculture. These projects were/are:

• Congupna (30MW – approved)
• Lemnos (100MW)
• Tallygaroopna (68MW)
• Tatura East (45MW)

While the decision was made on Congupna in October last year, decisions on the other projects were deferred and will not be made until work is completed on Victoria’s solar farm guidelines.

In December last year, Council also announced its intention to enter into a lease arrangement for a site near Mooroopna that will host a proposed $40 million solar farm.