The South Coast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA), in partnership with the Smart Energy Network, has installed 50 solar photovoltaic systems at households and businesses across the Eurobodalla, Bega and Queanbeyan Palerang shires.
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SHASA chairperson Kathryn Maxwell said this had resulted in the installation of 205kW of solar panels and 25kWh of batteries.
“Solar Bulk Buy One has raised awareness across the South Coast of the benefits to households and businesses of installing solar pv systems,” Ms Maxwell said. “Through the bulk buy process SHASA has ensured that people have accessed high quality solar systems.
Another positive was that 83 per cent of all of the workmanship for the installation was carried out by Clean Energy Council-accredited solar installers local to the Eurobodalla Shire.
The majority of systems were installed by Micro Energy Systems Australia (MESA) based at Bodalla. The other local installer was Harrington Design and Installation at Moruya.
Many of the the installs included hybrid, battery ready inverters, which allowed for those customers to more easily add batteries in the future when battery prices reduce further, she said.
The 50th system to be sold by The Smart Energy Network is a PV (photovoltaic) system with battery at the Eurobodalla Council's Dalmeny Hall.
Eurobodalla Sustainability coordinator Mark Shorter said the council was very pleased to be able to install the Dalmeny solar and battery system thanks to funding received from the Federal Government’s Solar Communities program.
“While we already have lot of solar on our facilities, it will be the first battery installed on a council facility and we hope to showcase the benefits of combining solar and battery storage to the community,” Mr Shorter said.
Also receiving an installation was the Narooma Marina on Forsters Bay, Narooma.
The Solar Bulk Buy program was only possible because of the generosity of an Growing Community Energy Grant grant from the Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW Government.
“SHASA has had outstanding support from Mark Fleming, Regional Energy Coordinator, South East Branch Region Operations Division, Office of Environment and Heritage, in its pursuit to get more solar onto roof tops in the Eurobodalla,” Ms Maxwell said.
She said she was pleased to announce that SHASA was now running a Solar Bulk Buy 2 with Micro Energy Systems Australia, Bodalla and MESA was able to offer pricing that is competitive with the initial Bulk Buy.
“'We choose to use reliable inverter and battery technology with Aussie made panels, that are not only manufactured onshore but utilise local business and distribution networks every step of the way,” Steve Cornthwaite from MESA said.
Mr Cornthwaite and the MESA stall were a popular attraction at the recent Narooma Renewable Energy Expo.
SHASA wants to see 20 per cent of households in the Eurobodalla with solar by 2020. Currently in the Eurobodalla 14 per cent of households have installed solar panels.
For more details please contact Kathryn Maxwell, chairperson SHASA, on 0467 558 645 or contact.shasa@gmail.com
