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Notes of Meeting With Indigo Power, at Beechworth
Present: Donald Mace (Indigo Power), Kevin Smith & David Blore (Renewable Energy Benalla) Date: Tuesday 20 June 2023 The meeting was arranged as a follow-up to Donald's presentation to the BSFG AGM on 25 May 2023. Donald outlined current work and involvement of Indigo Power (IP) on community energy projects especially community energy batteries. He advised that IP had been successful in the first round of Commonwealth funding for a community battery for Yarra Junction. He also outlined upcoming government grants for community batteries, noting that IP was developing submissions for a number of projects (10-12 bids), with strong business cases for each. He commented that the work required to develop a strong business case and submission was extensive; not many community groups were able to address the detailed submission requirements from his experience. (A message for us in regard to the effort required.) Donald also outlined possibilities being considered under Round 3 of the Victorian Neighbourhood Battery grant program, including a possible community battery in Benalla. BRCC is part of the suite of possibilities being considered as a member of the "Central Victoria Greenhouse Alliance" a grouping of Councils including existing groups such as the "Goulburn Murray Greenhouse Alliance". The Benalla project could entail a community behind-the-meter battery (with/without EV charging) at the former Civic Centre, now the Library. Presumably this battery would be charged from existing solar panels on the Library - and the Senior Citizens (?). We pointed out that the Library only has limited evening operating hours but the Senior Cits is used on a number of nights, thus gaining direct benefits from the battery. We discussed possibilities for inclusion of EV charging: Donald advised that these units (at $60,000 - 70,000 to install, depending on charging rate) could be added at cost. Both the siting of any EV chargers and the battery would be subject to finding a suitable flood-free site (i.e. not under the Library!). Chargers are usually located in nose-in car parking spaces: we mentioned the possibility of installing a couple of (double) chargers along Fawkner Drive in close proximity to the battery at the Library. Donald didn't think this was impossible. The location would also be better than say Bridge Street where legitimate objections might be raised to the length of parking required for a charge. Don suggested that a possible project for REB would be to seek funding for provision of EV charger stations. He suggested several funding sources including:
Another action by REB could be a letter of support for the proposal for a community battery. Don will liaise with David Blore when this would be desirable. We also discussed other project options including Indigo Power's proposal for changing household power usage for hot water from the old off-peak night rate model to midday to take advantage of the period of maximum solar generation. Typical cost for such a change is $500/household. Indigo Power have put a submission to our local Member Helen Haines for a pilot project. Kevin Smith and David Blore briefly discussed on the way home the possibility of REB subsidising installations In Benalla with a fixed payback process on a monthly or quarterly basis (say a subsidy of 50% of cost, paid back over five quarters at $50/quarter). Would be worth following up further with Indigo Power and Helen Haines as the site of a trial project. Other matters:- Donald advised that a tariff increase of up to 25% has been advised by the state regulator and will happen on 1 August for power supply . Indigo Power, conscious of their community obligations, will only increase their rate by 12%. IP will also increase their solar feed-in tariff by 7.2%. Donald confirmed that the new peak period for power charges is from 3 pm to 9 pm nightly. Brief discussion on heat pumps - nothing conclusive for us. We briefly discussed other power generation options including pumped hydro (not many options close to Benalla!) and wind. Kevin mentioned the wind resource in the Nillahcootie locality, where wind through the gap in the ranges to the east and west of the narrow valley are typically strong northerlies or southerlies. Donald referred to Hepburn as a potential model of how it might be done here - again with a battery incorporated. Actions:-
David Blore
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Castlemaine Mail, 23 June 2023 This looks very interesting!  David Blore Renewable Energy Benalla - Activities in 2022-2023:
Our focus in the past year has included the following areas: -
Peter Maddock A very informative seminar was hosted last week by Renewable Energy Benalla (part of BSFG) at the Benalla Uniting Church on solar panel and home battery installations. Brad Foletta, Director of Solargain Wangaratta, spoke on Solargain's experience in solar panels, batteries and solar hot water systems, with around 3000 installations in the North East over the past nine years since Solargain was established. Brad and more than half his staff are Benalla locals, so the company knows the local area intimately. Brad made mention of noted engineer and thinker, Saul Griffith, and his mantra “Electrify Everything” for combatting the use of fossil fuels for power and addressing climate change, as one of the key drivers for Solargain’s work across our region. Brad spoke about the current state of solar, developments in output and reliability of solar panels in the last decade or so, and demonstrated the significant cost savings on power bills for households who install panels (especially with the various subsidies available to offset installation costs). He then expanded on the related topic of home batteries. Brad spoke about; adding batteries to an existing system and how this works; the types of systems now available (self-consumption, partial backup, full backup and full off-grid systems); warranties and monitoring, and outlined the subsidies available for home battery installations. Brad highlighted a couple of key messages to the attentive audience:-
Brad and his team fielded many questions from the attendees, who appreciated his clear and knowledgeable presentation on a complex topic. David Blore Renewable Energy Benalla An Action Group of Benalla Sustainable Future Group 0407885410 BSFG members and supporters are invited to a Community Forum about Solar Panels and Home Batteries at 7:30pm, on Thursday 27th April at the Benalla Uniting Church.  Brad Foletta from Solargain Wangaratta will be speaking to inform us of the latest developments and state of play in this area, covering these aspects:
Attendance is free, but for catering purposes, please book your place using the Trybooking link https://www.trybooking.com/CHLUE We look forward to seeing you at this forum which promises to be very informative. Judy Schwarzman Secretary, BSFG On Thursday 30th March Russell Klose from Kilowatt Cars (Yackandandah based supplier of used Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicles (EV's) from Japan) presented a question, answer and drive session to 'a packed house' in the Benalla Uniting Church's general purpose meeting room.
The session started 5.30pm with a talk from Russell about Kilowatt Cars, what they are doing and why, why you should consider buying an EV, how to charge it (at home/on the road), bulk buy opportunities and the advantages of EV ownership-lower running costs, low emission driving etc. After his talk Russell made vehicles available to look at/sit in and test drive. A shared pizza dinner provided a valued opportunity to chat with others moving from contemplating to acting on the purchase of an electric vehicle. The session continued at 7.30 pm with a question-and-answer session with Russell, a great opportunity for those present to talk with someone who sells EVs, and has travelled over 25,000km in an EV around Australia. BSFG/REB members and supporters were also contacted to let them know that Russell would be speaking again at "Electrifying Agriculture in Euroa" on Thursday 13th April. Run by Farmers for Climate Action, with Solar Citizens and Euroa Environment Group. the event focused on the benefits of electric cars for farmers, as well as the future of EVs in the regions. Speakers from Farmers for Climate Action and Solar Citizens also spoke, as well as some local farmers and EV owners. One of Australia’s first electric utes, an electric farm bike, and other EVs were on site so that attendees could check out the technology for themselves. A good news story from the Benalla Rural City news page in the Benalla Ensign on Wednesday 12 April 2023, p2. EV Charging Station coming to Benalla
"Works to install a public electric vehicle (EV) charger at Benalla's Denny Street carpark are currently underway. Council is supporting EV charger company Evie Networks who are installing a 50kW EV charger, servicing two parking bays in the Denny Street carpark. Council is also finalising negotiations on a separate charging station with Tesla. The installation of these chargers is in line with Council's commitment to support the community to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions." Another article - 'Charge up your EVs' - relating to the installation of chargers in Benalla was published by the Ensign on Wednesday April 5th Russell Klose from Kilowatt Cars (Yackandandah based supplier of used Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicles (EV's) from Japan) will be presenting a question, answer and drive session at the Benalla Uniting Church, on Thursday 30th March.
We will start at 5.30pm with a talk from Russell on who they are, what they are doing and why, why you should consider buying an EV, how to charge it (at home/on the road), bulk buy opportunities and the advantages of EV ownership-lower running costs, low emission driving etc. After this part of the talk is finished, Russell will have vehicles available to look at/sit in and test drive. Then there will be a shared pizza dinner. A gold coin donation would be appreciated. At 7.30 pm we’ll have a question-and-answer session with Russell, a great opportunity to talk with someone who sells EVs, and has travelled over 25,000km in an EV around Australia. To book go to : https://www.trybooking.com/CGQLS Or email: bsfginc@gmail.com We hope you can join us. Judy Schwarzman Secretary, BSFG You may remember that Wangaratta Council's decision in 2018 to refuse Esco Pacific's - 140MW @ Glenrowan Solar Farm Proposal (245 hectares - 49,000 homes - $150 million) was overturned by VCAT on March 24 2019. Key permit issues for Victorian solar projects were clarified in this judgement.
On June 1st 2022 developer Esco Pacific announced it had agreed to the sale of the 125MW (dc) Glenrowan solar farm to construction and engineering giant Cimic Group. Cimic subsidiary, Pacific Partnerships, has ownership of the project, while another Cimic subsidiary, UGL, expects to complete the solar farm by the end of 2023, when operations and renewable energy generation is expected to commence. Pacific Partnerships' Glenrowan Solar Farm, which will generate an installed capacity of 130MWdc / 102MWac, was selected in early October 2022 as one of six new solar farm projects in the Victorian Renewable Energy Target 2 (VRET2) reverse auction process, securing a 10-year power purchase agreement with the state of Victoria in October 2022 for the sale of solar power from the Glenrowan Solar Farm In mid December 2022 work started at the Glenrowan Solar Farm near Wangaratta to prepare the 245-hectare site for construction next year. "A small crew is preparing the site, building access and internal roads, installing worker amenities and a laydown area for storage of materials as well as staff parking'. Find out more - Media Release 13 December 2023 'Site works underway at Glenrowan Solar Farm' Haystacks Solar Garden have announced details of their proto-type Solar Garden Project
The Solar Garden project is aimed at Electricity Customers who want to gain the benefits of Solar PV power but have no suitable roof solar access. This includes renters, apartments and any premises that has its solar access blocked by trees or tall adjacent buildings. Customer owned behind the meter PV installations will still give the best returns for those who have suitable sites. Haystacks have set up a part commercially owned (Como Energy Grong-Grong) Solar Farm, 1.5 MW, 4-5 hectare in the Riverina area. Solar Garden members buy a “garden plot share” at $4200 (equivalent cost of a 3kW PV solar set up). 333 garden plot shares are available for sale. Cost of the Solar Farm is about $1.4M, plot sales cover about 34%, the remainder being made up by NSW government funding and Commercial sources. The solar farm output will, at this stage, be sold on the spot market. The chosen site is a high solar output area, low fire and flood risk, and with normal storm and hail insurance and maintenance contracts. Haystacks have entered into a partnership contract with energy retailer Energy Locals, and all plot owners will need to transfer to them. Plot owners will receive an annual income credit of $505 for 10 years, credited on their electricity bills monthly (just like a feed in rebate, and equivalent of a 3kw PV system). It is expected the credits will be treated as are feed in tariff amounts as far as tax is concerned. Particularly important is plot owners receive the rebate even when they move (renters), as long as they remain with Energy Locals (every State except WA and NT). Indigo Power also uses Energy Locals as a supplier. The setting up of the Solar Garden concept has been very protracted (2 years) and complicated – involving a 55-page legal document and NSW government legislation. Plot members are financially protected by means of CCU's - Co-operative Capital Units - which are a type of debenture with preferential rights. Haystacks have a 5-year contract with Energy Locals, with a 3 year renewable option (in case things change and there are better options!) Garden plots are on sale now, (91 so far), and all 333 must be sold by 30 September for the project to proceed. Construction of the Solar Farm will be completed over Summer, and first repayments May 2023. Additional costs to plot members include a $50 joining fee, and $1 membership. As Energy Locals operate in Victoria it would be possible for Victorians to buy in. This is the first Solar Garden to get up, and it is expected others may evolve using differing arrangements. Kevin Smith 19th September 2022 REB had a meeting in early July to try to identify potential community organisations which might benefit from solar installations with similar loan/repayment schemes to that already in place for the 2 kindergartens.
Benalla Men’s Shed was one possible organisation, so a meeting was held on Wednesday 27th July at the Men’s Shed, in order to try to ascertain their power usage (and pattern of power usage) and determine the feasibility of a project there. The reality is that they operate 3 days per week with not a large amount of power consumption (there is no heating/cooling or hot water system in the building), so the payback period for the loan based on quarterly savings would be far too long to make this a feasible project for us under our current donation-based model for the rotating fund. They also have issues to sort out related to the metering of power on the site in Waller St, as the Lions and Rotary Clubs also have sheds there (both with very minimal power usage). We may need to broaden our enquiries to look at commercial enterprises, but that has some potential risks around the long-term viability of a business. Peter Maddock has come across an investigative tool called "Sunulator" which evaluates power use in relation to solar system size and can assess the appropriate size for the situation under consideration. The ATA has developed the Sunulator, and it has been used by the Geelong Sustainability Group to coordinate community renewable energy projects in Geelong (eg 149 kW solar installation at the Multicultural Aged Care building). Interestingly, GSG uses a community solar investment model. Peter Holmes BSFG and REB member Kevin Smith recently accepted an invitation to meet with representatives of Lochard Energy. a company which has recently submitted a development application to DELWP for a project called Energy Reserve (ER1). ER1 will be a hybrid natural gas and battery station in Winton, approximately 1.8km north east of Winton Motor Raceway (see below image).  Community enquiries can be addressed to er1@lochardenergy.com.au, or alternatively fill out the form on the ER1 Project's webpage: https://www.lochardenergy.com.au/new.../energy-reserve-1/. This webpage is highly recommended to interested readers - it includes an informative video; project brief and FAQ.
Bev Lee  Benalla Sustainable Future Group (BSFG) has organised a forum for renters from 7-8pm on Tuesday 14th June, in order to examine the possibility of installing solar systems on your rented property, and energy efficiency measures for your home.
VENUE - Benalla Uniting Church, Meeting Room (opposite Coles supermarket). Solar Victoria has solar information for renters at www.solar.vic.gov.au/informationforrenters. Click to Download Flyer with details of the forum, and contact details for RSVP.  Covid lockdowns and restrictions have had a significant impact on the work of Renewable Energy Benalla (REB), particularly in relation to meetings and conducting any workshop activities. Implementing the Benalla Stationary Energy Transition Strategy developed in 2017 with assistance from Beyond Zero Emissions continues to be the major goal of REB. This strategy has the goal of achieving 100% renewables by 2028.
Benalla Community Energy Project The establishment of the Benalla Community Energy Project working group as a sub group of REB has been very successful. The goal of this working group was to establish a donation based Community Energy Fund, managed as a separate BSFG bank account, which makes interest free loans to community buildings to install solar panels or conduct other energy efficiency measures. Loan repayments by the community group to the fund are based on savings on energy bills. These repayments eventually enable funding of another system and the fund becomes a 'revolving fund'. The Community Energy Project working group approached two Benalla kindergartens who accepted the offer of interest free loans to install solar panels. Panels were installed at Munro Ave kindergarten in May 2021 and Bernard Briggs kindergarten in late January this year. Grants from the Winton Solar Farm Community Benefit Scheme assisted with funding both these projects. The solar installer, Solargain, made significant in-kind contributions to both projects and have indicated that they are willing to assist REB in future projects. Loan repayments from both kindergartens are rebuilding the balance of the fund. The working group will now work towards identifying potential future projects to fund. Energy Efficiency Due to Covid we have been unable to conduct Energy Efficiency workshops during the last two years. While the 2019 workshops were seen to be excellent by those who attended, the number of participants was disappointing. Improving energy efficiency, and therefore reducing energy use, is a major focus of the Transition Strategy and we need to focus on how to best promote this. Community Power Hub A joint initiative from Goulburn Valley Community Energy and Indigo Power has resulted in the establishment of the Hume Community Power Hub. The Victorian government has established a number of such Hubs across the state and has provided them with significant funding. The purpose of the Hume Community Power Hub is to increase the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across the Hume Region. In order to do this the Hume Community Power Hub will build the capacity of the North East Community Energy Network and its members. REB is a member of this network, which is the largest community energy network in Australia. Kevin Smith is the REB/BSFG representative on this group. BSGF obtained funding from the Hume Community Power Hub to conduct information sessions for landlords about the advantages of installing solar panels on their properties to enable renters to have access to cheaper electricity bills. Future of REB REB has been struggling for some time due largely to a lack of active members and the future of REB has been discussed at several REB meetings. The Community Energy Project working group had been meeting independently of REB but in November we held a joint meeting to discuss the future of REB. It was decided that the groups should combine. This should overcome some of the problems that REB has been having. As a result of the BSFG Review process some new members have joined REB and this should also help. Renewable Energy Benalla was established as an action group of BSFG in 2017, following a very successful public forum in October 2016 on 'Future Energy for Benalla'. After five years as Convenor this report will be my final involvement with REB as I am moving away from Benalla very shortly. John Lloyd June 2022 Renewable Energy Benalla is an action group of the Benalla Sustainable Future Group (BSFG). We invite you to attend BSFG's Annual General Meeting: 7.30 pm Thursday 9th June 2022 at the Benalla Uniting Church Fellowship Room. A report from REB will be presented at the meeting.
Guest Speaker, Dr Lisa Rasmussen, is a Mercy Health clinician and holder of an Environmental Master’s degree. Lisa’s work in reducing the carbon foot print of Mercy Health has resulted in “Caring for People and Planet, Mercy Health’s Strategic Response to Laudato Si”. Supper will be served at the conclusion of the evening. On Tuesday May 31st Brad Foletta from Solar Gain spoke to Landlords from Benalla about the benefits of solar for landlords.
Brad presented information about Solar rebates for rental properties from the Solar Victoria website https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/solar-rebates-rental-properties. To summarise the benefits:
Subsidies available: Small scale technology certificates (STC’s) are generated when you install a Solar PV system or Solar hot water (including heat pumps) This incentive works like a rebate giving you:
There is a further Victorian state rebate available that is administered from the Solar Homes Program (Solar Victoria) Upon being deemed eligible you can be approved for:
Victoria Energy Efficiency Certificates: A further ~$1000 of VEECS state “rebate” is available for heat pump hot water units when replacing an electric storage hot water unit in Victoria. With these Solar PV subsidies combined there is an upfront discount of almost $6000 which can take the cost of a good quality 6.6kW solar PV system on a standard type house install down from the $10k mark to just $4k. For a solar hot water, the cost of a fully installed, good quality iStore heat pump hot water unit is reduced from $4000 to just $2000 if both above mentioned rebates are taken. Download the Solar for Rentals Fact Sheet. This meeting was organised by BSFG President Peter Holmes and it was very well attended. There will be another meeting for Tenants on Tuesday June 14th from 7pm-8pm in the Fellowship Room at the Uniting Church in Carrier Street Benalla, opposite the Coles car park. Peter Maddock On 23rd, 24th and 25th May 2022 two of our members completed Voluntary Home Energy Efficiency Advisor training provided by the Hume Community Power Hub, https://www.communitypowerhub.net.au/hume/.
Community Power Hubs provide grants for community groups to install renewable energy and undertake energy audits, https://www.communitypowerhub.net.au/. Indigo Power https://indigopower.com.au/about-us/, and GV Community Energy https://www.gvce.com.au/ are jointly delivering the Hume Community Power Hub. Once endorsed our Voluntary members will be able to advise about improving Home Energy Efficiency. We hope to then have a contact form here to use this service. Peter Maddock This post is a slightly edited version of a post received by email list from the Climate Council, April 21, 2022. Australia’s historically poor energy efficiency standards mean that many of our homes are like ‘glorified tents’ (1): damp, draughty, ice cold in winter and stifling in summer. This makes them energy guzzlers, highly expensive to run and more polluting than they need to be. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The Climate Council’s latest report, Tents to Castles: Building Energy Efficient, Cost-Saving Aussie Homes (2), has found that by increasing the minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes from 6 to 7-Stars, we can dramatically cut household emissions, reduce energy bills, and improve people’s health and wellbeing. For the first time in 11 years, these minimum standards in the National Construction Code are under review. As we are based in Victoria, our State has already voiced support for implementing a minimum 7-Star energy efficiency rating! You might like to send an email to thank Minister Wynne for his Government voicing support for this update, and encourage the new standards to be enforced from 1 September 2022. Australians have some of the most expensive energy bills in the world (3), but this report, Tents To Castles, finds that living in a 7-star, all electric house in any capital city in Australia would save occupants $450 on average per year in heating and cooling costs, compared to the current building standard. Increasing the energy efficiency of our homes doesn’t just make them safer, more comfortable and cheaper to run, it's also a great way to reduce emissions! Adding an extra star to each new home being built in Australia would mean 25% fewer emissions compared to homes at the minimum standard now - the equivalent of taking a car off the road for an entire year for each new home built (4). With 1.1 million homes expected to be built across the country over the next 5 years (5), the sooner we take action, the bigger the impact we can have on Australia’s emission reduction efforts. Australians deserve far better from our homes, but we need the help of all state and territory governments to realise this. We must show them that Australians want homes that are energy efficient, comfortable and cheaper to run. The opportunity to update the National Construction Code will not come around again until 2025. State and Territory Ministers are preparing to review these regulations, as part of the Building Ministers’ Forum, so now is the time to make our voices heard. Delaying this action by even another 3 years will lock in higher bills and add 9 million tonnes of emissions this decade - a decision we cannot afford. Morgan Koegel Senior Campaigner Climate Council P.S. Want to learn more about the benefits of increasing the minimum energy efficiency standard for new homes to 7-Stars? Read the Tents to Castles report here. References: (1) Australian houses are just glorified tents in winter, Sydney Morning Herald, June 2015 (2,3,4,5) Tents to Castles: Building energy efficient, cost-saving Aussie homes, Climate Council, April 2022  As many of you know we had an excellent event at Bernard Briggs kindergarten to celebrate the installation of panels. Thank you to Simon Ruppert of the Ensign for providing such good coverage of the event in the Benalla Ensign last week! A copy is included with this post for those who don’t read the Ensign.
John Lloyd  I would like to explain how the solar panels came to be installed on Bernard Briggs Kindergarten. I am Convenor of Renewable Energy Benalla, which is an action group of Benalla Sustainable Future Group, a not-for-profit community group which actively encourages taking action on climate change. Renewable Energy Benalla seeks to encourage the uptake of renewable energy in Benalla Rural City and has initiated the Benalla Community Energy Project as one way of contributing to this. The community energy project aims to establish a donation based revolving fund to install solar panels or undertake energy efficiency upgrades on community facilities in and around Benalla. The project provides interest free loans to the selected community facilities, to fund the works required, with no upfront contribution being necessary. Loan repayments to the fund from the host site are based on the estimated savings made on energy bills. The loan repayments gradually rebuild the balance of the fund, which can then be used to make a loan to another community building. In this way the fund becomes a revolving fund. Donations from the community help rebuild the balance of the fund more quickly than relying solely on loan repayments, which enables new loans to be made to other community facilities more frequently. Following discussions with the kindergarten management group, the North East Regional PreSchool Association, Munro Ave was selected as our first project with panels installed last May. We have also been very fortunate to obtain another grant of $5000 from Winton Solar Farm which together with significant contributions from others, including some loan repayments from Munro Ave, enabled us to fund the installation of panels here, at Bernard Briggs, without the need for fund raising. The system that was installed was a 6.6kW system which will reduce electricity costs for the kindergarten by more than $1500 per year. Future projects however will require donations from the community. A local business, Rustik Café, has a donations box on the counter in which customers often donate small change. When Rustik heard about this project they decided to donate the money from this box to our project. Their first donation was $135 and they will continue to donate money collected in this way. Thank you to Rustik. I would now like to thank the people and organisations that have made major contributions to this project. First, we must once again thank Winton Solar Farm for providing us with a second Community Benefit Grant of $5000 which enabled us to fund our second project. Our thanks to Erin McPherson, who is representing Winton Solar Farm here today, I also need to thank Brad Foletta, the Manager at Solargain Wangaratta, for the significant in-kind contribution to the installation costs of the panels. Unfortunately, Brad is unable to attend today because he has contracted Covid. Blake Smith, the Marketing Manager for Solargain, is here in his place. This was a difficult job with a steep roof and very old fragile terracotta tiles, but the team from Solargain did a quality job. Without the contributions and support from these people we would not be here today celebrating this event. It is now my pleasure to introduce Dr Helen Haines, the Independent Federal Member for Indi, who will officially launch this project. Among the many aspects of her work for Indi communities, Dr Haines has a special interest in promoting renewable energy and in particular Community Energy. In February last year, Helen tabled in Parliament her private member's bill, the Australian Local Power Agency Bill 2021, which would encourage investment in community owned energy in regional areas, which would allow ordinary Australians to share in the benefits of the renewable energy boom. Given Helen's interest in this area we felt it was highly appropriate to ask her to be our key-note speaker. Finally, can I thank you all for attending our ceremony today and once again a special thankyou to all those who have contributed to this project. I would especially like to thank Lisa Mim for her cooperation in allowing us to conduct this ceremony at the kindergarten today.  John Lloyd Renewable Energy Benalla/Benalla Community Energy Project Convenor 25 February 2022 On Friday afternoon 25th February, Benalla Community Energy Project's Solar Panel Installation at Bernard Brigg's Kindergarten was officially launched by Helen Haines MP. Helen's passion for community renewable energy is demonstrated continually in communities throughout her Indigo Electorate.
BSFG President Peter Holmes also took the opportunity to thank John Lloyd, former BSFG President and retiring Renewable Energy Benalla/Benalla Community Energy Project convenor, for his tireless work in promoting renewable energy in our community. Thank you, John! Renewable Energy Benalla received advice from Winton Solar Farm on 24th December that our application for funds in this round was successful. A great Christmas present! Underwritten by BSFG until the Winton Solar Farm grant is received, the solar panels for Bernard Briggs Pre School were installed in late January while there were no children there. The preschool joins Munro Avenue Pre School in becoming the recipient of a repayable loan from the Benalla Community Energy Project which covers the up front costs normally involved with solar panel installation and/or energy efficiency upgrades.  More details in future posts! John Lloyd Things have been very quiet since our joint meeting in November.
The loan agreement document has been sent to the manager of NERPSA for completion of the loan request for panels for Bernard Briggs kindergarten. This includes details of the system to be installed and the loan required. Details of the estimated savings and the suggested quarterly repayment of $350 have also been sent, with the fist quarterly repayment on April 1. The panels will be installed allowing time to hear from Winton Solar Farm about our grant application. If the grant is late, or we are unsuccessful, BSFG will underwrite the loan. Once I know about the installation date and switching the system on, I will let you know. Our next meeting will probably be in later January, once we have heard back from BSFG about any changes in relation to action groups. Today I received a Christmas card from Helen Haines addressed to ‘John and all at REB’, wishing us all a joyous festive season. Can I add my wishes to everyone for a great Christmas and a healthy and safe 2022. John Lloyd Members of the Benalla Community Energy Project, a working group of Renewable Energy Benalla, attended the meeting of Renewable Energy Benalla on Monday 15 November where it was agreed that the two groups should combine and act as one action group. Thank you to BCEP members for attending the meeting, which led to some positive results.
The minutes of November's meeting are included below. I have previously forwarded to Peter Holmes, BSFG President, the section of the minutes that relate to issues to discuss with BSFG, and David Blore has also met with him to discuss these issues. As recorded in the minutes, Benalla Community Energy Project (BCEP) is currently in the process of installing solar panels on Bernard Briggs kindergarten. We work with the North East Regional Pre-School association (NERPSA) who manage the kindergarten and they are who BSFG makes the loan to, to pay for the installation. The estimated savings they should make with the installation of the panels suggests a quarterly repayment of $350. In relation to the next meeting, we will need to wait until BSFG has come to some decision about the issues we have raised with them. John -The next REB meeting is at 5pm next Monday 15th November at the Uniting Church meeting room.
The minutes of the October meeting, an agenda for next Monday and my report to the BSFG committee following our discussions about the future of REB have been emailed to REB members and are available below*. Our discussions included recommending a change of name from REB to Community Energy Benalla, while noting potential conflict with the Benalla Community Energy Project (BCEP) and a concern that BCEP seem to be quite separate to REB, when in fact it is actually a sub-committee. These issues were discussed at a recent meeting of the BCEP working group. As a result of these discussions/questions I have invited members of the group to attend the REB meeting on Monday to sort out these matters. This will be an important part of discussing the future of REB. John Lloyd Convenor, Renewable Energy Benalla Action Group *Agenda Minutes of October Meeting Report on the future of REB to BSFG Executive October 26 2015 . |
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Banner - launch of REB's Munro Avenue Pre School 'behind the meter' solar panel installation, May 6 '21
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