Crocodile Dundee hotel goes solar

Walkabout Creek Hotel — based in McKinlay Shire in remote Queensland and made famous in the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee — has had 24 solar panels installed on its beer garden roof, producing enough energy for the hotel’s needs as well as some for the grid.

Originally licensed as the Federal Hotel in 1901, the Walkabout Creek name came from the film’s scriptwriters. As it resulted in worldwide fame, the name was retained and the hotel today is the major tourist attraction in the area.

The hotel’s move to solar came as a result of a scheme by McKinlay Shire Council to help local businesses reduce their power bills during the drought by funding the cost of installing solar power and then repaying the council through a special levy on their rates over a number of years. The scheme was the brainchild of Mayor Belinda Murphy, who said local businesses had identified freight and power as the costs with the greatest impact.

Hotel proprietor Frank Wust said that as the temperature in McKinlay reaches 46°C in summer, it is an ideal area to utilise solar energy instead of fossil-fuelled generators.

“All our 18 rooms must be air conditioned and to provide our meal service we need a large cold room and walk-in freezer,” he said. “This all adds up to a $1200 a month power bill.”

The solar installation at the Walkabout Creek Hotel comprises 24 Trina Solar 260 W panels with a Fronius IG Plus inverter installed on the hotel beer garden roof, producing an estimated annual yield of 11,250 kWh. This is calculated to save the business $3168 per year on last year’s energy prices, as annual consumption is put at 18,248 kWh.

As for the council as a whole, Murphy said the scheme has resulted in a projected power cost saving of $60,000 per year on an annual energy bill of $340,000. According to Murphy, “... that saving of nearly 20% can go into other council services or into reserve.”