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.

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.  

 Report to BSFG Committee - 26 October 2021
 
Renewable Energy Benalla (REB) has been struggling for some time to achieve some of its goals. We have recently had discussions about the future of REB. While these discussions about how the group will operate will continue for some time we believe we need to inform the BSFG committee of some proposals for change.
 
Title:
Renewable Energy Benalla is a very broad title and could evoke the notion of direct marketing of renewables rather than the social/community goal of promoting the adoption of renewable energy across the Benalla community.

We are proposing that the title be changed to Community Energy Benalla as that better reflects the community focus.

However there is the issue of possible confusion with the Benalla Community Energy Project.
 
Considerations for Future Operations of the Group
 
Benalla Stationary Energy Transition Strategy
The focus of this document is to reduce stationary energy emissions to zero by achieving 100% renewable energy within 10 years. The document outlines three key steps to achieving this:

• Reduce  energy demand  by 1/3 through energy efficiency           
• Replace 1/3 with local renewables
• Switch 1/3 to renewable utility power

 
We are currently investigating a Solar Garden proposal which fits within the Replace with local renewables strategy.

The Benalla Community Energy Project (solar panels or energy upgrades) does focus on Replace but may also focus on Reduce if future projects are to do with improving energy efficiency.
 
Reduce and Replace strategies could be within the resources of Community Energy Benalla.
 
Switch to Utility Scale would be beyond the resources of CEB without major involvement from the council.

The goal of Switch would be to have a solar farm built to provide energy directly into the Benalla grid.

A local example is where Wangaratta Council invited a developer to build a solar farm to provide power to the industrial estate. This attracted industries to Wangaratta to benefit from cheaper renewable energy.

Could Benalla council be encouraged to do that for Enterprise Park?
 
Reduce energy demand through better building and energy efficiency

REB has conducted Energy Efficiency workshops in the past however the numbers attending the most recent workshops were disappointing. This is one of the key steps in reducing emissions and should continue to be part of the work of Community Energy Benalla.

There are many resources on the internet about retrofitting existing houses to make them more energy efficient and reduce energy bills. Possibly CEB could focus on directing people to these resources through website and social media?

Another possibility could be to conduct a forum focussed on people having problems paying their electricity bills.
 
Energy Efficiency Awards

In 2016 and 2018 BSFG and SunReal sponsored the Environmentally Sustainable Business Award as part of the Benalla Business Network "Business Excellence Awards". While it appears that BBN may not continue with these awards they may be interested in supporting an Energy Efficiency Award, obviously for businesses.

While it is obvious that some sort of sponsorship would be needed we believe it may be something worth pursuing, particularly with the focus on businesses. Sustainability Victoria assisted with the judging of the business awards and they may be able assist again.

Such awards may be best initiated by BSFG rather than CEB.
 
Convenor Vacancy
​
A major issue for Community Energy Benalla will be one of leadership as I will be moving away from Benalla in the near future.
 
John Lloyd 
​

As part of the Benalla Sustainable Future Group and Renewable Energy Benalla, the Benalla Community Energy Project has established a revolving fund, sourced from donations, to install solar panels and other energy-saving projects on community facilities in and around Benalla.

Our first project was the installation of solar panels at Munro Avenue Preschool launched in early May 2021.  Our next project will be solar panels on the Bernard Briggs Kindergarten in Benalla.

To make a donation through Paypal or using your credit card, click on the donate button:

To make a donation through your bank:
BSB :  633-00
Account#:  168407500
Reference with your name and email your details to us.  

Thank you for your support.  

John Lloyd, David Blore, Patricia Brookes, Karen Nankervis
Benalla Community Energy Project Working Group

Please contact us if you would like to find out more
Email:  [email protected]

Introduction …
 
…I would like to explain how the solar panels came to be installed on Munro Ave Preschool.

As Michelle mentioned, 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. Normally, we would have needed to conduct a fund raising program but we were fortunate enough to obtain a grant from the Winton Solar Farm Community Benefit Program, which together with significant contributions from others, enabled us to undertake our first project without the need for fund raising. Future projects however will require donations from the community. We have established a facility to accept on-line donations and the details are on the publicity leaflets available today.
 
Thank You…
 
I would now like to thank the people and organisations that have made major contributions to this project.

I will start with Susan and Sandy Campbell. Sandy was involved in some of the early discussion about establishing the fund and decided to make a significant donation to 'kick start' the fund.
  
When the Winton Solar Farm announced their Community Benefit Scheme we applied for a grant of $5000 which we were fortunate enough to receive. We knew that this would enable us to start our first project without having to conduct a fund raising program. Our thanks to Zach Tariq, Project Manager at Winton Solar Farm who unfortunately is an apology today as he is not well, to Alan Robertson, Head of Construction, and to Sarah Stent, Community Engagement person for FRV, the builders of the Winton Solar Farm.
 
I also need to thank Brad Foletta, the Manager at SolarGain Wangaratta. Some months ago I was talking to Brad about Renewable Energy Benalla and our plans to establish this Community Energy Project. He was interested and said that he thought it was time for SolarGain to give something back to the community. SolarGain did this by making a significant in-kind contribution to the installation costs of the panels.
 
There have been others who have supported us in this project. We were able to obtain a small grant from DELWP, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, which enabled us to employ consultants to develop guidelines for project management and governance of the Community Energy Project. Thank you to Fiona Roberts from DELWP and to the consultants Cath Botta and Trish Curtiss, who did the work for a reduced fee.
 
Without the contributions and support from all these people we would not be here today celebrating this event.
 
Introducing Helen Haines MP …
 
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. During 2020 she consulted with a panel of local community energy leaders to develop the Local Power Plan.  The goal of the Local Power Plan is to encourage investment in community owned energy in regional areas, which would allow ordinary Australians to share in the benefits of the renewable energy boom.
 
In February, Helen tabled in Parliament her private member's bill, the Australian Local Power Agency Bill 2021, which would implement the recommendations of the Local Power Plan.
 
Given Helen's interest in this area we felt it was highly appropriate to ask her to officially launch our project today.
 
Our Next Community Energy Project …
 
I would now like to publically announce our next project. This will be to install panels on the Bernard Briggs kindergarten in Church Street. This project will take some time to be implemented as it will largely depend on donations from the community. While the loan repayments from Munro Ave will help, they will take some time to rebuild the balance of the fund. We will be initiating a fund raising program in the near future. However, if you would like to donate to our fund now, the details are on the publicity leaflet.
 
Finally, can I thank you all for attending our official launch today and once again a special thankyou to all those who have contributed to this project.  I would especially like to thank Michelle for her cooperation in allowing us to conduct this ceremony at the kindergarten today.

​
 
John Lloyd
Convenor, Renewable Energy Action (REB), an action group of
Benalla Sustainable Future Group (BSFG)
Thursday 6 May 2021