Sun powers big savings

Hobart Mercury
Wednesday 25/3/2009 Page: 9

THE sun that sparkles on the roofs of Swansea will soon help deliver clean electric power to the East Coast town after the community banded together to make the most of a federal solar rebate. About 40 of the town's residents have combined to organise a bulk installation of solar systems before the $8000 rebate ends in the middle of the year.

Organiser David Tucker said the idea had taken root quickly and attracted a lot of interest at a meeting on Monday night. "A small group of us started shopping about to see what sort of a deal we could come up with for some bulk installations in the community," he said.

"When we started, we had a target of 20. We've got 46 interested already. It's been growing every day. As we speak, there are people ringing up wanting to know more about it." He said that for an initial outlay of $3000 to $4000, residents would be able to take a big bite out of their power bills and do something for the environment. "They reduce your power bill.

On the average household, a 1kW system will reduce your power bill by roughly a quarter. So it covers one of your power bills a year," he said. He hoped the first of the installations would be operating by June. Jessups Retravision managing director John Thirgood. who will supply the solar systems, said the renewable energy side of his business had grown rapidly by helping business and residents slash their power costs by up to 70% .

"Tasmania should be the leading solar state. The panels stay cooler and work better here. Tasmania is a very good climate. We don't have overcast weather or tropical stomps like, say, Queensland." he said, "It's cool sunlight, if you like, with high-performance outcomes on solar. People think in Tassie you won't quite get the benefit but it's not true." He praised the people of Swansea for taking the initiative.

"What they wanted was to make a statement as a community and make an impact environmentally and generate power back to the grid," he said. Sustainable Living Tasmania executive officer Margaret Stedman said interest in solar energy installations was at an all-time high. A meeting at South Hobart on Monday night attracted 150 people interested in a similar approach to the Swansea scheme.

"The interest is huge," she said. "I think it's evidence of how interested and concerned people are about doing what they can around climate change and shifting to the new world." She said it was equally important for householders to take energy efficiency measures. such as installing good insulation and stopping drafts.

Under the Federal Government's Solar Homes and Communities Plan, 22,700 solar systems had been installed nationwide by the end of February, taking peak solar generating capacity installed nationwide since 2000 to 31 MWs. Almost 400 systems have been installed so far under the scheme in Tasmania.