Solar farm support heats up

Sunday Canberra Times
Sunday 10/2/2008 Page: 7

Jindabyne could be generating enough solar electricity to look after the town's needs within a couple of years if a proposal put to the community on Friday evening goes ahead. The proposal to build a 2 megawatt solar farm received unanimous support from residents attending the meeting, organised by the group Clean Energy for Eternity, Snowy Mountains. Snowy River Shire Mayor Richard Wallace said there was a lot of hard work ahead to set up the venture and resolve governance issues. The solar farm proposal kicked off a weekend of activities in Jindabyne, including "human" signs and swimming across the lake as part of a push to raise awareness of renewable energy.

Bega-based doctor and founder of Clean Energy for Eternity, Matthew Nott, is on a mission to help the shire halve its energy consumption by 2020. The community group recently launched its 50-50 by 2020 campaign, which also aims to ensure only 50 per cent of the energy used in the shire is from non-renewable resources. The solar farm is part of the plan, and the group has secured $100,000 from the Federal Government to fund a viability study into a facility at Bega. If feasible, federal Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, has promised a further $1 million to help set up a pilot farm.

Mr Nott said not everyone could afford a private solar panel and the proposed 10ha farm would provide `viable returns" to economically struggling regional towns. He hoped to set up south-eastern NSW as a "centre of excellence" for renewable energy and said the advantages to the region would be "enormous." "We have all the ingredients - hydro in the mountains, a great wind resource on the plains, great opportunity for biomass generation with the dairy industry on the coast, sun everywhere and a community ready to go," he said.

"We want to set ourselves up as a centre of excellence which will attract industry to the area, create jobs, provide an investment opportunity and allow its to tap into what will become a rapidly growing ecotourism market." Clean Energy is also trying to help Australia's more than 300 surf clubs operate solely on renewable energy. Several hundred people at the Flowing Festival in Jindabyne last night helped the group form a human sign spelling out the words "Life Saving Energy" to engage the community on climate change.

The group raised $20,000 last year to pay for a wind turbine and solar power panels for the roof of the Tathra Surf Life Saving Club in Bega. As a result the club will save $1000 a year on its electricity bills and prevent three tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. Mr Nott said there had been a lot of "inertia" on the part of Surf Life Saving Australia to have all of its clubs fitted out similarly. For now, he was focusing on raising enough money to fit seven surf clubs in the area with solar panels, wind turbines and solar hot-water tanks.