The Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA), of which Mount Alexander Shire is a member, wrote the winning business case submission for the Central Victoria Solar City project. It established its commercial arm, ZCO2e, to manage the project and the consortium.
Mount Alexander Shire signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the project in mid 2008. It was officially launched in late 2009 with the opening of its two 300 kilowatt Solar Parks in Bendigo and Ballarat.
Since then, the team, whose office is based in Mount Alexander in Castlemaine, has been working with Local Government partners from across the region to record vital research data drawn from interval meters. This data will inform future energy policy.
The Central Victoria Solar City project is part of the Australian Government’s Solar Cities program. It offers incentives to local residents in Mount Alexander and 13 other Central Victorian councils, as well as businesses, schools and various community groups to participate in a range of energy efficiency, local energy generation and demand management product and service trials.
In the next six months consortium members such as the Bendigo Bank, Origin, Powercor and the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance, will focus on consolidating aspects of the Central Victoria Solar City into a sustainable business model that may have application in other communities.
The team at Central Victoria Solar City will engage with the 14 participating councils in the project to involve 1,000 new participants before the end of this year.
Mount Alexander Shire residents are currently able to choose from seven different local energy solutions packages as part of the household component of the project.
These packages contain:
- local energy products and
services - sign on and sign off
bonuses for participating - extra incentives, including
price discounts, gross feed
in tariffs and other
energy use behaviour
related payments - interval meters
- a research component.
Central Victoria Solar City Consortium members include Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA), Origin, Powercor and ZC02e (ZedCo) – the commercial entity setup by CVGA to manage the project. The Victorian Government is also a key funding contributor.
For further information contact Central Victoria Solar Cities on (03) 5479 1950 or email info@centralvictoriasolarcity.com.au
