Allambi Care, a leading provider of diverse healthcare and support services near Newcastle, decided to host a renewable energy project on their rooftops to completely power their facility.
Allambi Care and Pingala partnered with Lake Macquarie City Council and Solar Power Australia on this project.
Local benefits:
Allambi Care’s community, Lake Macquarie locals and the Pingala community has funded Solar power for Allambi Care. Allambi Care will pay for the solar electricity generated for the first three years, and repaying community investors with an attractive rate of return between 5 to 8% p.a. through the Pingala Co-operative.
Consumer benefits:
Community investors have been so impressed with how this project has performed, and have enjoyed being part of a good project for the area, that many have decided to reinvest in new community projects of the same sort. In engaging with new prospective sites for co-owned solar projects, Pingala have educated business owners and other groups in the region on the benefits of renewable energy – with many seeking to install their own as a result.
Climate benefits:
Through its greenhouse gas reduction policy, Council has successfully reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent since 2007 (to the end of 2017-2018 Financial Year) while achieving a 6.08 per cent reduction in emissions city-wide, despite the City’s rapid growth and development.
Energy consumption and efficiency has been a priority and the Council has worked with the community to achieve a 21.6 per cent reduction in residential energy use per household from its 2007 baseline, supported by a high uptake of solar power systems, with 12,680 total connections exporting 29,014 megawatt hours of electricity to the grid in the 2017-2018 Financial Year.
Successful community energy stories like this help to socialise the benefits of renewables and help households make that first step in making the switch. Lake Macquarie City Council has also proactively engaged with residents on the renewable energy transition, to great effect.
image: courtesy Pingala