Hepburn Archives - MASH: Community Solar Bulk-Buy

Trentham Solar Information Meeting

For anyone thinking about ‘going solar’ or adding battery storage on their home, rental property or business, there is an opportunity to learn more at a community information meeting at the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre on Thursday 15 April from 6.00-7.30pm.

Hosted by Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy in partnership with the Hepburn Shire Council, Hepburn Z-NET and Hepburn Wind, this meeting will provide attendees with the information they need to decide whether now is a good time to get solar installed or to invest in a battery.

As the Hepburn Shires strives towards zero-net emissions by 2030 and zero-net energy by 2025 as part of the Hepburn Z-NET partnership, this program is a great way that local households and businesses can get involved. The Bulk-Buy aims to encourage the uptake of more solar in the region, helping residents cut their electricity bills and reduce CO2 emissions. Community groups benefit with one percent of bulk buy revenues distributed to not-for-profit groups in each shire in the form of free solar.

The meeting will be opened Cr Lesley Hewitt, Mayor, Hepburn Shire Council. Presenters are from the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy.

To learn more about the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy and to register for this event, visit mash.org.au/hepburn or call 1300 466 274.

Clunes Solar Information Meeting

For anyone thinking about ‘going solar’ or adding battery storage on their home, rental property or business, there is an opportunity to learn more at a community information meeting at the Esmond Gallery, The Warehouse, Clunes on Wednesday 17 March from 6.00-7.30pm.

The meeting will be opened Cr Lesley Hewitt, Mayor, Hepburn Shire Council. Presenters are from the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy.

To learn more about the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy and to register for this event, visit mash.org.au/hepburn or call 1300 466 274.

Daylesford Solar Information Meeting

For anyone thinking about ‘going solar’ or adding battery storage on their home, rental property or business, there is an opportunity to learn more at a community information meeting at the Daylesford Town Hall, 76 Vincent St, on Thursday 25 February from 6.00-7.30pm.

The meeting will be opened Cr Lesley Hewitt, Mayor, Hepburn Shire Council. Presenters are from the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy.

To learn more about the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy and to register for this event, visit mash.org.au/hepburn or call 1300 466 274.

Helping keep Daylesford beautiful

Elizabeth and Gerry Bennett, with their dog Ruben, Daylesford

Newly arrived in Daylesford, Elizabeth and Gerry Bennett had solar right at the top of their ‘must do’ list for their new home – and a big reason for that was to ‘do their bit’ to help keep Daylesford beautiful. Here’s their story:

“We moved from Beaumaris to Daylesford around seven months ago. We’d been looking for the right property in Daylesford to retire to for about five years – and we are delighted with where we live now.

“Getting solar panels was one of our top priorities when we moved in. We’re here for the long term so we want a home that’s energy efficient with low bills. Plus we want to do our bit for the environment. We’ve moved to a beautiful area and we want to keep it beautiful.

“We read about the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy [which is the sister bulk-buy of MASH, organised also by the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance] in a local paper and liked the sound of the community aspect, particularly how there’s a give-back to community groups and schools with free solar. Community is important to us, that’s one of the reasons why we’ve moved here. We want to do what we can to support that.

“We got in touch with the organisers and they put us onto the solar provider, Cola Solar. They were very efficient and easy to deal with. The installers turned up on time and were very helpful. The panels look great.

“We’re just waiting for the Electrical Inspector to come before the system is turned on. We can’t wait for that. It’s going to be a good feeling to know that when we switch on the lights that we’ll be running on sun power. – Elizabeth and Gerry Bennett, Daylesford, November 2020

Bushfire Resilience Boost for Hepburn

The Hepburn Recreation Reserve – which is both a community sports facility and dedicated place of last resort in the event of a bushfire – now has full protection from power outages thanks to a new 76 panel solar-plus-battery storage system.

$32,000 system fully grant funded

The 25.08kW solar system, with Tesla Powerwall 2 battery, was fully funded by Hepburn Shire Council, Hepburn Wind, the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy through the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance and a grant from Bank Australia. The total system cost was $31,818 excluding GST. The contribution from funding partners was Hepburn Shire Council $12,000; Hepburn Wind $4,500; Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance $15,318 with $12,500 of that amount from a Bank Australia grant and $2,818 from the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy.

Increases capacity to respond to threat of bushfires

“This system increases the resilience of the Hepburn community and capacity to plan for and respond to the threat of bushfires”, said Cr Licia Kokocinski, Mayor of the Hepburn Shire Council. “In recent bushfire seasons, Hepburn and the wider state have been hit hard by the fires.”

Complete protection from power outages provided by the newly installed, fully grant funded Tesla Powerwall 2 battery at the Hepburn Recreation Reserve.

“During emergency events it is common for the electricity grid to go down, making it harder for designated Neighbourhood Safer Places, like the Hepburn Recreation Reserve, to maintain basic support services,” said Rob Law, Executive Officer at the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance. “This solar and battery system is designed to operate if the grid goes down which will enable the Hepburn Recreation Reserve’s to maintain critical functions during an emergency. The solar-battery system at the Hepburn Recreation Reserve will provide at least one day of power autonomy; more if weather conditions allow as the Tesla Powerwall and solar power system can continue to work independently for any duration if the grid goes down.”

“A great result for the Hepburn community”

“This is another great result for the Hepburn community,” said Jason Dooley, President, Hepburn Football and Netball Club. “Not only will the new system provide power in a blackout but will also reduce power costs to our community organisation and reduce the green footprint of the facility. Our many thanks go to all of the involved parties and funding partners,” said Jason.

“After the Hepburn fires it is important that this community asset is comfortable and a refuge during fire events, as well as ensuring the sporting teams and other community groups that use the site have a constant supply of clean energy,” said Taryn Lane, Manager, Hepburn Wind.

“We’re really proud to help fund this project through our Impact Fund, demonstrating what’s possible for the future of our communities,” said Jarrod Troutbeck, Senior Sustainability Consultant at Bank Australia.

The solar and battery system was designed and installed by Specialized Solar, a Clean Energy Accredited Solar Retailer and supplier to the bulk-buy programs organised by the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance.

Ends –

About power usage at the Hepburn Recreation Reserve

Hepburn Recreation Reserve has an average daily electricity usage of 61 kilowatt hours throughout the year. It is a 3-phase site. Power usage is much higher in winter than in summer. Summer power usage is 61 kilowatt hours per day on average.

System details

Solar PV: 25.08kw (76 x 330w Seraphim solar panels and 1 x Fronius SYMO 20kw inverter)
Solar PV generates on average: 88 kilowatt hours per day.
Batteries: 1 x Tesla Powerwall 2 with back up Gateway (usable storage 13.5kwh)
Tesla Monitoring: back to base monitoring of system’s generation, export, self-consumption and battery levels.

Key points:

In the summer period this Solar PV and Battery solution will be able to take care of the usage (61kwh per day average) but in the wintertime it is estimated to take care of one-third of the requirements.
This site is 3-phase so the Tesla Powerwall 2 is only able to back up one of the three phases in the case of a black-out. The system supplier and installer Specialized Solar have, in consultation with the client, designed the system so that it back-ups the light and power load of one phase which will provide the site for at least 1 day of autonomy.
There is the option to add a generator in future if required, and increase the size of the solar and battery system.

Hepburn Recreation Reserve – role during a bushfire

The Hepburn Recreation Reserve is a dedicated Place of Last Resort or Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP). It is a place of last resort during the passage of bushfire, and is intended to be used by persons whose primary bushfire plans have failed. NSPs are places of relative safety only and they do not guarantee the survival of those who assemble there. Furthermore, there may be serious risks to safety encountered in travelling and seeking access to NSPs during bushfire events. Depending on the direction of a particular fire, it may not be a safer place to assemble than other places within the municipal district.

Hepburn SES Scores Solar Gift

Hepburn Shire SES has a new 6.3kW solar power system thanks to a $6,700 grant from the Hepburn Solar Bulk Buy, the sister bulk-buy to the MASH community solar bulk-buy. Made possible through the community bonus element of the bulk-buy, in addition to Hepburn Shire Council’s Towards Zero Community Grants, this solar system is expected to save the Hepburn Shire SES at least $1,250 a year off their electricity bill. These savings will go directly towards the purchase of new equipment and vehicles, as well as help the unit move towards its goal of carbon neutrality.

Celebrating the new solar installation at the Hepburn Shire SES

As a not-for-profit volunteer-based organisation, budgets are tight. “Funding solar from our own budget was going to be a struggle,” said Brad Climie, Unit Controller at the Hepburn Shire SES. “So when I saw on the Hepburn Shire Council website that the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy was offering a community bonus for solar, I thought ‘yes’, let’s go for it!”

Cutting bills and CO2 emissions

“We’re always looking for ways to reduce our operating costs,” said Brad Climie. “Our electricity bills are around $2,000 a year, so bill reduction was a big driver for us. Also, we want to have a green footprint. As part of that, we are trying to move as many systems as possible over to electric. Going solar makes sense to us environmentally as well as financially.”

Hepburn Shire SES contributed $1,000 to the purchase of the solar system. “That was a requirement of the bulk-buy community bonus which was more than reasonable,” said Brad. “The payback on our investment is less than a year, which is amazing.”

20 panel system

The 20 panel solar system – which includes a Fronius inverter, JA Solar 315 watt panels and a tilt frame – was installed by Macedon Ranges Solar Power, the solar provider for the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy.

MASH solar provider “did a great job”

“Macedon Ranges Solar Power were really easy to deal with and they did a great job,” said Brad. The solar power system had to be integrated with our generator so that we are operational 24/7, 365 days a year, including on Code Red Days. This was no drama for Macedon Ranges Solar Power. They sorted out the special switching required for solar to integrate with the generator and the whole thing was done in just a day.”

“The system is working really well. A big thank you to the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy and also the Hepburn Shire Council for making this community bonus available to us.”

Council proud to support

Hepburn Shire Council Mayor, Cr Don Henderson said “Council is proud to support community groups to reduce their environmental footprint and running costs. Many of these groups could not operate without countless volunteer hours, this is one way in which we can recognise and support that contribution.”

Helping the transition to zero-net emissions by 2030

Program partner Hepburn Wind’s General Manager, Taryn Lane, stated: “We have a goal of zero-net emissions by 2030 through our Hepburn Z-NET program – key to this is ensuring our essential services are more resilient. This rooftop solar array provides important savings so that our SES can further support our community.”

To learn more about the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy visit mash.org.au/hepburn-solar or call 1300 466 274.

About the Hepburn Solar Bulk Buy

The Hepburn Solar Bulk Buy is organised by the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance, a not-for-profit organisation which also runs the MASH community solar bulk-buy and supports councils throughout central and northern Victoria with projects that help move the region towards a renewable energy future.

The Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy is supported by Hepburn Shire Council and Hepburn Wind. This is the third community bonus system installed through the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy since the program started just over a year ago. Just over $30,000 in free solar power systems has been donated through the Hepburn Solar Bulk Buy and Council’s Towards Zero Community Grants this year. The three recipients to-date are Doxa Malmsbury Camp, Trentham District Primary School and Hepburn Shire SES.

www.mash.org.au/hepburn-solar

About the Hepburn Shire SES

The Hepburn Shire SES is a volunteer-based organisation which provides assistance in cases of emergencies such as floods, storms and landslides as well as road rescues.

On average, the Hepburn Shire SES responds to 250 call-outs a year. It is also a divisional command post for a much larger area. This means that the unit has to be ready to respond to emergencies 24/7, 365 days a year.