Helping cut the ribbon to launch Goulburn Solar Farm, Goulburn Community Energy Co-operative chair Andrew Bray said the solar farm was part of a broader movement across Australia: active communities joining together to act on climate change. Photo: John Thistleton.
A pioneering clean energy cooperative in Goulburn, which built a $5.5 million solar farm, has been lauded as a template for more projects of its kind throughout NSW.
Launched on a 2.2-hectare rail siding in North Goulburn with 2300 panels and a cutting-edge 1.5 MW battery, the solar farm can power about 500 homes.
Recounting 12 torturous years to complete the project, one of the key founders, Ed Suttle, said that by 2018, a bunch of people who knew nothing about solar farms had grown determined to build one.
Community Energy for Goulburn volunteers persevered with industry research, costings and planning, which paid off.
University of Technology Sydney industry expert Jonathon Prendergast contacted Ed, offering legal, technical and commercial help.
Working on a $4.2 million budget, the volunteers won a $2.1 million NSW Government grant contingent on their raising the rest. Then 100 people turned up to a public meeting in late October 2020, sanitised their hands and wore face masks against COVID-19, to hear a comprehensive pitch for investment.
“That 100 people within an hour had committed $500,000,” Ed said, his voice shaking with emotion.
“But it gets better. A week later, we ran the same meeting online for those unwilling or unable to come to a public meeting, and within an hour of that, we had raised another – sorry, this makes me very emotional – $750,000.”
Within two or three months, the remainder of the money was raised, putting the solar farm into complete community ownership.
To offset frustrating red tape that was tangling the volunteers’ progress, the Australian Rail Track Corporation leased the solar farm site for the first five years at a peppercorn rent. And the NSW Government tipped in an additional $200,000 toward an $800,000 cutting-edge battery, with the remainder coming from the co-operative investors.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council voted unanimously to waive a sizeable infrastructure fee, further boosting the community co-operative.
Speaking at the Goulburn Community Solar Farm launch, Ed Suttle and host Mhairi Fraser (left). The kitchen table, bottle of red wine, five glasses, pair of work boots, and hi-vis vest represent where the project began in Goulburn in 2014, among residents and Divalls Earthmoving and Bulk Haulage. Photo: John Thistleton.
At the launch on Saturday, Member for the Entrance and NSW Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer David Mehan said, “When it comes to our renewable energy future in NSW, I’m quite happy to say Goulburn is showing the way to the rest of the state. Congratulations, Goulburn.”
Before the launch and while the new infrastructure was being tested on the grid, Goulburn Community Energy Co-operative director and founding member Peter Fraser said the investors, including himself and his wife Mhairi, had supported the project for five years without a dividend.
They were inspired by Hepburn Wind Farm, a pioneering scheme in Daylesford, Victoria, backed by businessman and activist Simon Holmes à Court. (The Goulburn project is Australia’s only one to have raised capital without substantial loans.)
Mhairi points out that the local investors’ rusted-on commitment had developed years earlier through successful sustainability projects initiated by activists in The Goulburn Group. These include Goulburn Wetlands, Tesla’s first regional EV charging station, three sustainability festivals and a residential rooftop solar initiative.
Together they galvanised people into a force for change, Mhairi said.
Those people were frustrated with the federal government’s slow action on climate change, and the solar farm gave them an opportunity to actually do something.
Peter says the Co-op hopes to pay its first dividend later this year.
“We will start earning income shortly, after weeks of testing, identifying issues, tweaking the system,” he said.
“Testing included putting the full volume, 1.4 megawatts (enough clean energy to supply 300 homes) into the grid and everything went smoothly.”
Mhairi says that because most investors are Goulburn people, the money earned from generating clean energy will remain in the local economy.
“Dividends are not going to overseas investors,” she said. “And a proportion will be set aside as a community benefit.”
Guest speaker, Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals chief executive, Melina Morrison, said against the backdrop of the Middle East war, Goulburn Community Energy Co-operative presented a safer future through green, renewable power. Photo: John Thistleton.
Peter says, fortuitously, the unlikely-looking site for the solar farm is close to a 33 kV transmission line.
It’s visible from the Sydney Road and the railway line, reflecting support for renewable energy and a progressive image for Goulburn.
Mhairi says, “whether it’s a leafy park, a wetland or a community-owned solar farm, restoring the environment lifts everyone’s spirits. Doing this as a Co-operative provides a democratic vehicle for like-minded people to work on things they care about.”
