SOLAR PROJECT POWERS AHEAD
A GRASSROOTS Geelong group has unveiled its latest venture, as it marks the completion of a four-year dream to create a large-scale solar project.
Sustainability Geelong was celebrating after receiving State Government backing for its Climate Safe Rooms initiative.
The new project will offer 20 Geelong council community care clients a free home energy audit and retrofit package, to help them cope during extreme periods of hot and cold weather.
It will make the rooms fully insulated and draughtproofed, while installing airconditioning and a small solar system to help offset running costs.
Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said a $300,000 State Government grant would help get the project off the ground.
“The Climate Safe Rooms project is another fantastic initiative that will help protect some of our most vulnerable from extreme weather.”
The new venture comes as the group’s first large-scale solar installation, at North Geelong’s Multicultural Aged Care Services, nears completion.
The last of the 520 solar panels are scheduled to be installed by the end of July.
Geelong Sustainability project co-ordinator Dan Cowdell said MACS initiative was the realisation of a fouryear campaign to create a large-scale community solar project.
The project received a $188,000 State Government grant, with a further $150,000 raised in the community within a week.
“We want to replicate that over and over again,” he said of the MACS model. “We are looking at other host sites.”
In conjunction with ShineHub, the group has also rolled out a community solar bulk-buy program.
More than 200 residents across Geelong have signed up to have solar panels installed, with about 75 per cent adding battery storage.
“We are now working to connect those together to create a virtual power plant.”