Another Solar Energy Boost For Bega Valley Shire Council

New South Wales’ Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC) is racking up another solar power system at its aquatic centre in Pambula.

Installation of 60 kW of solar panels is under way at Sapphire Aquatic Centre (SAC), adding to the existing 22 kW already in place.

“The additional solar panels, being installed on the new squash court roof and the SAC foyer building, will generate 17% of the site’s total annual electrical consumption,” said Council’s Environmental Management Coordinator, Derek van Bracht. “It will reduce SAC’s carbon footprint by 23%, which is the equivalent of 66 tonnes of carbon on an annual basis.”

The SAC has been a significant mains grid electricity hog, accounting for 6% of Council’s total electricity spend in 2017-18.

How much energy the beefed up system will generate over a year wasn’t mentioned, but an 82kW solar system installed in Pambula can generally be expected to crank out an estimated 115,215 kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually.

It looks like the SAC has had solar power for a very long time. I noticed a story from back in 2012 relating to the theft of 10 solar panels and a couple of inverters from the Centre. Whether the bastards offenders were ever caught isn’t clear.

Other energy efficiency related features of the SAC include:

• Replacement of existing lights with energy efficient lighting
• Variable Speed Drives on filtration pump motors
• Pool blankets
• Solar thermal heaters
• Electric heat pumps

Council’s Clean Energy Plan

The new array brings Council’s total installed PV capacity to 450kW, hosted across 30 facilities. This latest solar initiative is part of Bega Valley Shire Council’s Clean Energy Plan.

Covering 2019-30, key objectives of the plan are to:

• Address all of Council’s stationary electricity and fuel uses
• Reduce vulnerability to future energy price uncertainties
• Boost energy resilience of BVSC’s facilities
• Achieve operational cost savings
• Leverage external funding and drive innovation in clean energy infrastructure
• Provide feasible pathway options to achieve 100% renewable energy

Solar Energy Across The Bega Valley Shire

PV is pretty popular not just with Council, but right across the Shire among residents and businesses. The Australian Photovoltaic Institute estimates 34.4% of freestanding and semi-detached dwellings in the local government area have had systems installed.

Some solar power statistics for the Bega Valley Shire as at the end of June this year:

• Estimated  installed capacity (all system sizes): 30,244 kW
• Under 10kW: 23,699 kW (installations under 10kW: 6,143)
• 10-100kW: 6,286 kW (installations: 322)
• Over 100kW: 259 kW (installations: 1)

APVI notes the solitary big solar power system is installed at Woolworths in Bega. The Shire is also home to the “Imagine” community solar project.

The 30kW system, consisting of 120 solar panels arranged to spell the word “imagine”, was installed at Tathra Treatment Works in 2015. It was funded through community sponsorships of solar panels, matching funds from BVSC and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage chipped in $5,000.

With a total installed capacity of 30,244 kW across the Shire to date, that works out to around 840 watts per capita based on Census 2021 population data.