From Guest Blogger Carlos de la Fuente: Sydney Invests $4.3 Million in Solar Energy
The Climate Group “C40 City” of Sydney, Australia has announced a project that will create the largest solar project in their country, installing in over 30 sites around this city, starting with the Sydney Park Pavilion. This project will have a peak capacity of generating 1.25 megawatts (MW). This project will reduce the carbon footprint by up to 2,250 tonnes.
Mayor Clover Moore said:
“We are committed to tackling climate change and driving down carbon pollution. The City has one of the most ambitious targets of any government in Australia – a 70 per cent reduction in pollution and 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.The City is getting on with the job. These solar panels produce no pollution when generating electricity – unlike coal-fired power, which is responsible for 80 per cent of the city’s carbon pollution.”
Thanks to reductions in costs of solar panels and preferential pricing on any surplus power they generate the city was able to contract nearly twice the amount of solar panels for less than half the cost that was expected in 2010, by selling this electricity, it is expected to cut carbon footprints by a further 50%.
This project follows the guidelines established for the Sustainable Sydney 2030 Vision, which aims at promoting a green, global and connected city.
Carlos de la Fuente is a technology and green energy enthusiast. In his spare time he runs EnergyInformative.org, a site that focuses on informing and promoting the use of clean, renewable energy technologies and increased energy efficiency. Click here to visit it.
I’m not sure if I understand this article correctly, is the total energy produced from each site going to produce 1.25 megawatts,therefore the whole project of the combined 30 sites will produce 37.5 megawatts. Or is the total output of all 30 sites going to be 1.25 megawatts???
I ask because in Western Australia Verve Energy and GE Energy Financial have the Greenough River Solar Farm which consists of 150000 thin PV solar modules and is already producing 10 megawatts and they are already looking at the possibility of expanding to 40 megawatts. So wouldnt this then be the biggest solar project in Australia at the moment and they have financed it all out of their own pockets, (which is nice for some to have the money availiable to do so). Dont get me wrong though what they are doing in sydney is absolutly fantastic and I find it really exciting and it makes me proud of my country to hear of such projects.
For more information
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/australia-flips-the-switch-on-its-largest-solar-farm
I am currently working on a group of letters aimed at local, state and federal governments in australia trying to steer them away from CSG, which is a big issue in NSW and QLD at the moment, and towards more wind and solar projects in Australia. Some of my inpsiration to do this came from the article ‘Whats it like to live next to a 136 Megawatt wind farm’.
Though there are a few differences. A lot of the CSG sites are on farm lands and this gives the farmers the option to say no we dont want CSG, which they already are, but we are willing to look at other alternatives. eg wind or solar. A bit of finding the happy medium because either way they are not being givin a choice by the government. As the these CSG companies are already getting given the go ahead despite the effects it will have on the environment and impact on water supplies from pollutants. Besides I don’t believe that we have a shortage of gas. So I dont see the need to mine gas using the CSG method other than the jobs it will create. so wouldnt it be a better idea to create the jobs through solar and wind farms and exceed the goal set by the Australian Government to have just 20% of or energy produced by clean energy, by 2020. This goal seems a little on the small side to me, or am I being a little unrealistic?
This