Inverell Shire Council, New South Wales, has welcomed the announcement that Sapphire Wind Farm will provide power to the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) under a new 12 year deal.
The agreement with the state’s largest wind farm located in the east of Inverell Shire will see CBA source 65 percent of its national electricity needs from renewable energy from January 2019.
Under the agreement, CBA will receive 96,000 megawatt hours (MWh) annually from the Sapphire Wind Farm.
Mayor, Paul Harmon, says this equates to enough clean energy to power around 115,000 homes each year.
“The wind farm is just stage one of a $1 billion renewable energy hub that will blend wind and solar with battery storage.”
The last turbine for the project was erected in early November and Sapphire Wind Farm will add over 800,000 gigawatt hours (GWhr) of energy into the national electricity grid by December.
CBA General Manager of Corporate Responsibility, Kylie Macfarlane, said, “To be able to use renewable energy directly from the supplier for 65 percent of our Australian electricity needs is a significant step towards transitioning to 100 percent renewable electricity use.”
The CBA has also become the first Australian corporation to join the global RE100 initiative – setting a goal to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
