The Sunshine Coast is soon going to be living up to its name and using its valuable sunshine to generate its own power. The Sunshine Coast Council is looking to build its own solar farm near Coolum which will generate over half of its electricity demands.
The $24-$30m project is set to be constructed in Valdora near Coolum. Mayor Mark Jamison says that it will make the Sunshine Coast the first council in Australia to have a utility scale solar farm constructed and it will also potentially be the largest in the nation.
The solar farm is said to meet over half of the council’s electricity needs for at least the next 30 years. “Over the next three decades council is expected to pay in excess of $110m for electricity, and the solar farm would have the potential to reduce that by many millions of dollars,” said Mr Jamison.
“This project has the potential to transform the Sunshine Coast. It would become the embodiment of everything we stand for; a region which is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable,” said Councillor Mark Jamieson. “It would save money, reduce our carbon footprint and take us another step closer to becoming the most sustainable region in Australia.”
Not only would this project do great things for energy here on the Sunshine Coast, but it would also provide 10 million to the local economy (over 10 years) and create 40 jobs during construction. The Australian Solar Energy Council (ASEC) spokesman John Grimes says, “What they’ve figured out is that by building their own solar power plant in south-eastern Queensland, which has some of the best solar resource in the world, they can slash their pollution, they can slash their power bills, they can create employment and a new industry in the region and they can save money on their electricity bills all at the same time.”
“This is a fantastic initiative. The Sunshine Coast council is really showing leadership by looking to replace more than 50 per cent of their electricity needs,” said Mr Grimes. The project has been described as a ‘game-changer.’
The council hopes that construction will begin in 2014 and will be asking for expressions of interest to design and install the solar farm in the next few weeks.