Australia’s largest community-owned solar farm begins powering homes in Canberra

The switch has been flipped on Australia’s largest community-owned solar farm at Majura, which is now powering around 260 Canberra homes.

Around 550 people from the local community poured $2.4 million into the project, with investments in the solar power plant ranging from $500 to $100,000.

Kaveri Chakrabarty was one of those investors, whose home in Cook is now receiving power from the grid.

“This is a good example that can be taken up by others and also a case for feasibility,” she said.

    Key points:

• Australia’s largest community solar farm has been switched on in Canberra’s east
• The farm will power around 260 homes in the nation’s capital
• The company behind the project said the farm could deliver a five per cent return to investors

The community-owned solar plan was first floated by the ACT government eight years ago, before construction began in Majura in August last year.

It is expected to stop 1,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the air each year.

Monetary return ‘now in the hands of the weather’

he farm was the first project for renewable investment energy fund SolarShare, who are touting it as a way for people from all income brackets to get involved in the push towards renewable energy.

The company’s chairman Nick Fejer said community-owned solar farms allowed unit owners and renters who cannot install panels, to benefit from renewables.

“We have everything from students who are still in student accommodation but wanted to get onboard and have done a small investment, to the other end of the scale who are maybe wealthier and keen to provide for future generations with a larger sum of money,” he said.

Mr Fejer said the project hoped to deliver a five per cent return to investors over its lifetime.

“The real burning question on everyone’s lips is, ‘When does the first cheque hit my bank account?’ It’s either within a 12-month window or shorter than that,” Mr Fejer said.

“All of the risk for the return is now in the hands of weather, which is well-known over long term periods.”

Advocates hope this farm is just the beginning

The project was also subsidised by the ACT government through a ‘feed-in-tariff’ over a 20-year period.

ACT Energy Minister Shane Rattenbury said the tariff “provides an economic foundation to make the investment, build the farm and know that there will be a payback”.

“I’d like to think there would be a lot more community solar farms both potentially here in the ACT and right across the country,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“We’ve now got a model that works, and I can’t see why it can’t be replicated.”

The site at Majura likely won’t hold the title of Australia’s largest community-owned solar farm for long, with construction of an even larger project nearby in Goulburn to begin soon.

But SolarShare’s Executive Officer Lawrence McIntosh said they welcomed the competition.

“We hope that we can set an example not just for our community, but communities around Australia about how this model can be taken here,” Mr McIntosh said.

“Whether or not it’s us doing another one, or another community being inspired to do one, for us that’s all a win.”

Source: abc.net