Victoria’s Wyndham City local government area is facing challenging times with COVID-19, but a bit of good news has been Council’s progress on solar power.
City of Wyndham is situated between Melbourne and Geelong, and was Australia’s second fastest-growing LGA by percentage growth for the 2018-19 period (+5.9%). An increase in population means an increase in services required – and energy to power them. Council has been turning to solar and energy efficiency technologies to rein in these costs and associated emissions.
Last week Wyndham City announced its solar and LED lighting programs for 2019/20 were complete, which saw solar panels installed on 13 community buildings. While further details of the systems weren’t provided, Environment and Sustainability portfolio holder Cr Heather Marcus said collectively the systems will avoid 443 tonnes of carbon emissions annually and the community groups benefiting from the installations will be making significant savings on their power bills; estimated at $2 million over twenty years.
The latest installations bring the total PV system count for Council’s assets to more than 50. Among previous large installations is a 337kW system on the Civic Centre in Werribee and a 225kW installation at AquaPulse in Hoppers Crossing.
Council also replaced 1,500 streetlights through the 2019/20 Lighting the West program, which will reduce lighting related carbon emissions by 486 tonnes a year.
“These crucial programs are playing an essential role in helping us reach our long-term goal of being carbon neutral,” said Cr. Marcus.
Wyndham City Council has also been installing batteries at some community centres and sporting pavilions, with more than 350kWh of energy storage capacity in place by the end of the 2018/19 financial year.
The Lighting the West program has been running for 5 years and the “Large-Scale Solar” initiative for 6 years. The latter is a $3.5 million project funded through a $3.1 million Federal Government grant, with Wyndham City investing $400,000.
Council And Community Carbon Neutrality Goals
The Wyndham City Greenhouse Action Plan 2018 – 2021 sets goals of Council’s corporate greenhouse emissions (CO2-e) reduced by 12% below a 2014/2015 baseline by this year, and carbon neutrality achieved by 2040. It also sets a community goal of zero net greenhouse emissions from electricity use in the municipality by 2040. Council sees rooftop solar as playing a significant role in achieving this.
Many of the City’s 270,000+ residents have already switched on to the emissions and financial savings benefits of PV. Just in the 3030 postcode that includes Werribee, solar panel installation numbers topped 9,000 by the end of June this year.
According to the SolarQuotes solar calculator, simple payback on a 6.6kW solar power system installed in the Wyndham City region can be achieved in around 4.5 years; making installing panels not only a good choice for the environment, but also for the hip pocket.
As for whether Wyndham City LGA residents can get solar installed at this point in time, the answer is yes. However, Victoria’s Premier is to make announcements related to work and employment today and the impact on the residential and commercial solar sector, if any, remains to be seen.
On a related note, here’s how to make going solar a COVID-19-free experience.
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