NEW DEVELOPMENT ADOPTS RENEWABLE ENERGY DESIGNS
INNOVATIVE ‘OVER 50S’ DEVELOPMENT WILL BE POWERED BY CLEAN ENERGY
A forward-thinking ‘‘over 50s’’ village under construction at Kialla will be powered largely by energy produced on-site, its developers say.
It takes a green approach to downsizing.
Solar and wind powered street lights and electric car charging ports in garages are a couple of the features being built at the ‘‘Freedom Place’’ development, adjacent to Melbourne Rd, Kialla.
The joint venture between real estate agent Ken McNamara and orchardist-businessman Sam Sali will produce its own power, and residents are expected to pay minimal for electricity, its developers say.
‘‘We got our first street light up,’’ Mr McNamara said.
‘‘It’s providing twice the amount of power needed to power the street light.
‘‘We’re going to be able to generate our own power.’’
The real estate agent said leftover power could be stored in a battery bank and he hoped the development’s requirement on the grid would be minimal.
“Our ultimate aim would be to get it off the grid one day, we’ll just have to see how it goes,’’ Mr McNamara said.
Mr McNamara has reason to believe it is among one of the first facilities like it.
While only a display house has so far been built, 23 of the 39 properties have already been sold off the plan.
In hatching the plan, Mr McNamara said the developers looked at the issues canvassed by people going into live in ‘‘over 50s’’ villages.
‘‘One of them is do you own the land?’’ he said.
The freehold village website states it will ‘‘give the financial reward of owning a home in a village to the owners instead of to the operators’’.
‘‘They all part own the facility,’’ Mr McNamara said.
The project, described as an ‘‘over 50s executive estate’’ is designed for empty nesters, business professionals, retirees or those wanting to travel for extended periods, its website detailed, with parking space for a motor home at each house.