Work begins on Goulburn's first community-owned solar farm

The milestone is another notch after eight years of hard work by Community Energy for Goulburn (CE4G).

"This is the first physical manifestation that it will be built and it's just so exciting," the group's vice-president, Ed Suttle said.

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The 1.4 megawatt solar farm, comprising more than 4000 panels, will be constructed on a 2.4 hectare former industrial site, off Sydney Road, within the city's limits. CE4G is forecasting its completion by the end of 2023.

The $4.4 million project incorporates a 1MW storage battery, aimed at stabilising the grid and removing variations in electricity pricing during times of high usage. Importantly, it also enables higher profit.

Mr Suttle said preliminary civil works were underway, ahead of a construction certificate. Local subcontractors, Divalls Earthmoving, has removed rubble, old rail lines, remains of buried buildings, weeds and more from the site.

Temporary drainage to control run-off was also completed. Head civil works contractor, Premise, is enlisting local companies in this phase.

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Mr Suttle said the overall project was born of 'frustration.'

"When we started eight years ago, the state and federal government were doing almost nothing (in terms of renewable energy)," he said.

"We thought 'if you won't do it, we will...'"

A five-member committee, also comprising Peter Fraser, Gretchen-Alt Cooper, Alex Ferrara and Louise Bennetts, is overseeing the solar farm's delivery.

The state government's $2.1 million grant in March, 2020 assured the group the solar farm could be profitable. During a subsequent investment, CE4G signed up 300 investors from Goulburn, Crookwell, the Southern Highlands and Canberra. A total $1.2m was raised in just two October, 2020 sessions. Mr Suttle said they invested from $400 to $100,000 each.

A later survey revealed that people were drawn by the "100 per cent clean energy investment," its community ownership and redirection of a percentage of profits for charitable purposes. Mr Suttle said some also wanted to send a message to government about its "inertia" on climate change action.

"We are forecasting a return of five per cent annually, which is better than a term deposit," he said.

Project partner, Komo Energy, will develop the solar farm from a technical and commercial perspective. A consortium of companies will construct the project, including Goulburn Solar, which will deliver most of the low-voltage work. Mr Suttle said as many local firms as possible would be engaged.

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An inverter transformer, enabling power to be fed into the grid from the storage battery, is expected to arrive from India in coming months. An energy supply agreement with Essential Energy was also signed several months ago.

Mr Suttle says the Goulburn farm will be a "tiny plug in the system" but an important one nevertheless. Despite much larger solar farms either operating in planning, he believes smaller, community projects will play a major role.

He said large renewable energy projects designed to replace coal-fired power were taking time to come online. Mr Suttle expected wholesale electricity prices to rise in the interim, making reliance on already operating community renewable energy initiatives more attractive and financially viable.

He pointed to Australian Energy Market Operator CEO, Daniel Westerman's June comments that investment in renewable energy wasn't happening fast enough. Mr Westerman feared the government would not meet its 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030.

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Mr Suttle also argued there was a feeling that community engagement by large solar farm proponents around Goulburn that community consultation had been inadequate and "too slow."

"When we decided we wanted to the Goulburn solar farm, we door knocked and spoke to everyone around there," he said.

"Everyone said they were fine with it, so there is no antagonism.

"...Goulburn will have its very own clean energy solar farm and that's tremendously exciting. I think it's something the city should be really proud of and we'll be having a big party when it's finished."

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