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Wind to power Moreland Council’s electricity

October 23, 2018 at 2:08 pm John Englart Leave a comment

Turbine blades for MREP Crowlands Wind Farm

Moreland Council is one of 14 organisations who have added their purchasing power together to support the development of a new wind farm to supply renewable energy for these organisations.

The 80MW Crowlands wind farm near Ararat, which will be owned and operated by energy company Pacific Hydro, will feature 39 turbines.

The consortium won the 2018 Premier’s sustainability award in the Government category. The Cooling Communities project was also listed as a finalist in the Environmental Justice category. Winners were announced on Thursday 11 October 2018 in Melbourne.

The initial negotiations were undertaken in 2015 with the initial memorandum of understanding to proceed signed while the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was meeting in Paris in December (See Englart’s report from Paris).

The Crowlands Wind Farm is presently under construction and expected to be operational in January 2019.

Members of the Melbourne Renewable Energy Projects (MREP) Consortium (including Moreland) have committed to purchase 88 GWh of electricity each year under a long-term power-purchase agreement.

The farm will generate more electricity than the purchasing group’s needs, so it will bring extra renewable energy into the market.

In August Moreland Council Deputy Mayor Natalie Abboud said she was proud of Moreland Council’s part of this leading sustainability project.

“Purchasing all of our electricity from the Crowlands Wind Farm under MREP will save Council nearly 8,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year,” Cr Abboud said.

“As well as economic value, it’s a great example of Moreland being an innovative council.”

Acting Lord Mayor of Melbourne Arron Wood said in March that the power purchasing agreement was ground-breaking in it’s scope.

“This is the first project of its kind in Australia. No other renewables project has tackled the complexity of 14 partners in one buying group. We are proud to reach this milestone after announcing the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project (MREP) in November 2017,” the Acting Lord Mayor said.

“The Crowlands windfarm will save MREP customers 96,000 tonnes of CO2 every year and will create more than 140 construction jobs as well as eight ongoing positions to operate and manage the facility.

“This is an innovative, cost-effective approach to creating and purchasing renewable energy and also a great example of how a major city with a $92 billion economy can influence positive outcomes in our regional towns.”

Background:
Media Release: Moreland, a big fan of renewable energy https://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/about-us/news-and-publications/news/fan-of-renewable-energy/

Media Release: Shovels in the ground for MREP an Australian first https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/news-and-media/pages/shovels-in-the-ground-for-mrep-an-australian-first.aspx

Entry filed under: 100% renewables, Moreland Council, news, renewable energy.