Somerset Regional Council Cranking Up Solar Deployment

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Queensland’s Somerset Regional Council is embracing solar power and will expand its capacity significantly in the near future.

The Somerset Regional Council Local Government Area (LGA) is located in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland; around 100 kilometres northwest of Brisbane. Major population centres include Lowood, Esk and Coominya.

According to the Australian Photovoltaic Institute, around 47.2% of dwellings in the region have solar panels installed and more than 20MW of solar energy capacity is in place; the majority of which is comprised of small-scale systems under 10kW (17.9MW, 4,947 installations – June 2019).

Along with residents and businesses, Somerset Regional Council has also been doing its bit – and its solar portfolio is set to grow quite rapidly in the time ahead.

Council recently unveiled a 30-kilowatt solar power system at the Kilcoy Aquatic Centre, which is expected to pay for itself in around 6 years.

“We are really looking at saving costs to the community and benefiting the environment with these projects,” said Somerset Regional Council mayor Graeme Lehmann.

Four systems had been installed previously and four others will also be added soon – 30kW at the Lowood Library, 30kW at Somerset Civic Centre, 40kW system at Kilcoy Showgrounds, and a 60kW system at Fernvale Indoor sports Centre.

More Solar Energy On The Cards

Other projects announced back in June (capacities/timeline unspecified):

• Kilcoy Library
• Fernvale Futures Complex
• Kilcoy Visitor Information Centre
• Kilcoy Memorial Hall
• Kilcoy Showground

And Council isn’t done yet. At a meeting last week, a motion was passed to engage a company to prepare a suitability report for rooftop or ground-mount solar systems at sites including Esk Showgrounds, Kilcoy Indoor Sports Centre, Toogoolawah Pool and Council’s Esk workshop/store.

Large-Scale Renewables In Somerset

While the Somerset LGA has no operational large-scale solar energy plants within its boundaries as yet, it is home to the Splityard Creek hydro facility and Wivenhoe pumped hydro power plant.

There have been large-scale solar applications submitted. One was for a 400MW PV plant proposed for a site near Kilcoy back in 2011, which was ultimately rejected.

More recently a 1,500MW solar + 500MW storage project has been proposed for a site between Harlin and Kilcoy, which was given the green light by Council in November last year. There was a low-key “early groundbreaking ceremony” for that facility in February this year; however, at that point there was still significant wrangling associated with the development and its current status isn’t clear. The web site for the project’s developer, Sunshine Energy, was “undergoing scheduled maintenance” at the time of publishing.