Six weeks of solar savings for the City of Swan

The City of Swan, located north-east of the Perth CBD, has knocked thousands of dollars off its energy bill and significantly reduced its CO₂ emissions in just six weeks, following the installation of new rooftop solar panel systems across seven facilities.

The solar panels are located at Midland Sporting Complex, Swan Caring Centre in Midland, Woodlake Community Centre in Ellenbrook, Swan Active Ballajura, Coolamon Pavilion in Ellenbrook, Ethel Warren Bullsbrook Community Centre and Percy Cullen Pavilion in Gidgegannup. With a total solar generation capacity of 163 kW, the panels have so far produced 12,373 kWh of solar energy, avoiding 8.6 tonnes of CO₂ emissions and saving the City more than $4000 in the last six weeks.

“When put into context, we’ve produced enough solar energy in the last six weeks to power 20 average homes, which is a great result,” said City of Swan Mayor David Lucas.

“Despite the very wet and grey weather we’ve experienced over the last six weeks, we’ve produced some fantastic results, and we look forward to even greater solar energy production and savings as the days become longer and sunnier.”

The solar installations mark the achievement of one of the City’s pledges towards the Cities Power Partnership, a climate change initiative involving local governments around Australia. According to Whiteman Ward Councillor John McNamara, it is the latest in a series of measures to protect the local environment for future generations through sustainable practice.

“Mitigating the City’s carbon footprint by reducing our greenhouse gas production is one the City’s highest priorities, both within our organisation and in our community,” he said.

“We have been very active in achieving energy efficiency for a number of years; in 2017 we completely retrofitted our administration building with LED lighting, which reduces our lighting emissions by 61% every year.

“We are also targeting efficiency in our fleet emissions, with a number of electric vehicles now part of our fleet and a public charging station located in Midland.

“We continue to look for ways to be more sustainable, and encourage our community to follow in our footsteps.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Scanrail