Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change

Moreland roofs now generate 12MWh power annually from Solar PV

April 15, 2015 at 11:21 pm John Englart 1 comment

Welcome to the local solar revolution.

Moreland City Council has just installed an extra 100kW of solar PV panels – 390 new panels in all – on the Coburg Civic Centre roof. This adds to the existing 9kW system that was already functioning.

These panels will meet 30 per cent of the building’s energy needs, as well as saving 160 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, with an estimated saving of $23,000 from Council’s electricity bill each year,

Read more at MEFL: Coburg Town Hall gets solar-powered.

We think this is great news. Keep up the good work City of Moreland in transitioning to zero net emissions.

It is not only our Council that has been going solar, another item from the MEFL newsletter uses figures from the Clean Energy Regulator to show that at the end of February 2015:

• 3,961 solar power systems had been installed in Moreland with a capacity of 10,708 kW
• 414 solar power systems (1,622 kW) have been installed the 2014-15 financial year
• 86 households have installed solar (244 kW) through the current bulk-buy coordinated by MEFL’s Positive Charge initiative
• On average, householders in Moreland have installed 3.9 kW solar power systems

I also checked the latest figures for March 2015. In December 2013 I looked at the penetration of solar PV in Fawkner and more broadly across Moreland. Figues in brackets are from November 2013 data, so you can compare the change.

Congratulations Moreland. We now have a power station the equivalent of a 12MWh of annual generation capacity operating during the day on the roofs of Moreland. A good proportion of this energy would be used near production, saving in energy transmission losses. Of course Moreland is not the only municipality enjoying the solar PV revolution. Here are the latest stats of some Melbourne northern region solar PV installations:

As you can see from this table the urban/rural fringe municipalities of Hume and Whittlesea have a much greater penetration of solar PV, now exceeding 14 per cent. These are not wealthy areas, with new estates where people have a substantial mortgage but also see solar PV as a cost effective way of saving on their utility electricity consumption. Moreland at 7.8% is second lowest after the City of Melbourne.

This graph shows the solar PV monthly aggregate installation across Moreland postcode areas time series:

Click to open larger version

There is still a lot of opportunity for take up of solar PV in Moreland.

If you are thinking of doing so, Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL) offshoot Postive Charge offers a solar PV bulk buy to save when purchasing.

This is one reason why consumer demand for electricity is falling.

But due to the loss of the carbon price from July 2014, utility scale energy production from both black and brown coal is rising. We need action at both state and Federal level to enhance emission standards that will result in the closure of some of our ageing coal fired clinkers like Hazelwood, which is the most polluting and inefficient power station in the industrial word, and produces substantial population health impacts and social costs.

Entry filed under: Moreland Council, renewable energy, solar power. Tags: Moreland, solar.