Tweed’s big solar savings

TWEED Shire Council is on track to save ratepayers more than $200,000 per year on electricity bills thanks to a push on solar.

The shire’s renewable energy action plan is set to generate six per cent of total electricity demand from solar by the end of the year.

For this year council will have invested close to $450,000 on the project, with an additional $250,000 in grants.

And the investment is expected to generate an annual savings return of over $200,000 from reduced electricity and demand charges.

Deputy Mayor Chris Cherry said money spent on solar projects was expected to pay for itself in the next four to nine years.

Cr Cherry lead the push said residents for council to save money on powering local services.

Council was pushing to produce 25 per cent of all power by 2022 and 50 per cent by 2025.

“It’s a push from the community to keep the costs we use as a council down and to do it a lot more sustainably – I think people are pretty happy with it,” Cr Cherry said.

“We have a lot of energy use, particularly in our water treatment plants but also in our street lighting and aquatic centres.

“We’re looking for solar solutions. By the end of next year we’ll have 1.3 megawatts of solar power. We’re extremely proud of that.”

Overall, council plans to reduce its total carbon footprint by 20 per cent of its 1996 level.

Cr Cherry said she eventually wanted council to look at battery storage.

“We want to go eventually,” she said. there