{"id":7059,"date":"2020-06-25T05:49:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T05:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=7059"},"modified":"2020-06-25T05:49:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T05:49:52","slug":"solar-farm-powering-city-operations-and-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/06\/25\/solar-farm-powering-city-operations-and-revenue\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar farm powering City operations and revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

City of Newcastle\u2019s solar farm has exceeded expectations in its first six months of operation, generating almost twice the revenue it was expected to make annually.
\nThe five-megawatt solar farm installed at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre generated more than $420,000 in revenue between when it went live in mid-November and the end of April, well above original forecasts used in the business case\u2019s projected average of $250,000 a year.
\n\"Solar-farm-inside.jpg\"The Summerhill Solar Farm at dawn.<\/sup><\/strong>
\nSelling energy back into the electricity market, the solar farm further demonstrated its value during the January bush fires when the City supported the state\u2019s damaged energy grid as a net exporter.
\nA renewable power purchase agreement with a wind farm that came into effect on 1 January, making the City the first NSW Council to be powered 100 per cent by renewables, saved a further $30,000.
\n\u201cThe business case showed the solar farm would save rate payers around $9 million, after costs, over its 25-year lifespan – and so far, it\u2019s on track to do even better,\u201d Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
\n\u201cThe solar farm helped us exceed our renewable energy goals under the Newcastle 2020 Carbon and Water Management Action Plan, which targeted 30 per cent of our electricity needs from low-carbon sources.
\n\u201cBy combining solar installations, battery storage and the purchase agreement to power all our operations, the City has created a resilient energy strategy that will protect us from future electricity price spikes.
\n\u201cWorking in concert with the power purchase agreement, these investments give us price stability, create financial savings for rate payers and have already enabled us to reduce our operational carbon emissions by 77 per cent, compared to the 2008 baseline.\u201d
\nThe Climate Council\u2019s Cities Power Partnership Director David Craven said the solar farm was a \u201cfantastic accomplishment\u00a0by the City of Newcastle\u201d.
\n\u201cThey have again stepped up as leader in renewables and as a leader amongst local governments taking significant action on climate,\u201d Mr Craven said.
\n\u201cRenewable energy is the cheapest form of new energy generation and is proving to\u00a0save Novocastrians millions, while creating a healthy future for this community.\u201d
\nThe City is also paving the way to an electric transport future by converting fleet vehicles to electric and installing an electric vehicle charging network powered by solar panels and battery storage.
\nMeanwhile, the City is increasing solar-energy generation on its buildings.
\n\u201cWe recently added an additional 100-kilowatt\u00a0roof top photovoltaic system to our Waratah Works Depot, doubling the capacity of the system installed onsite in 2013 and taking total generation of our 12 solar systems to almost 9 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy each year,\u201d Councillor Nelmes added.
\n\u201cOur five-megawatt solar farm and over 660 kilowatts of rooftop solar provide the equivalent energy needs of more than 1,770 Newcastle households a year with clean, renewable energy.\u201d
\nFor its commitment to renewables and reducing carbon emissions, the City won the prestigious Local Government Sustainability Award in 2019 and is currently a finalist for Environmental Leadership and Sustainability in the 2020 NSW Local Government Excellence Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City of Newcastle\u2019s solar farm has exceeded expectations in its first six months of operation, generating almost twice the revenue it was expected to make annually. The five-megawatt solar farm installed at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre generated more than $420,000 in revenue between when it went live in mid-November and the end of April, … Continue reading “Solar farm powering City operations and revenue”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}