Our goal is to self-generate our electricity through renewable sources by 2023
In December 2014 Council adopted a Renewable Energy Master Plan with a goal to self-generate all our electricity from renewable source by 2023.
The process started in 2013 when Council undertook the largest community consultation in its 134-year history.
During the 18-month Imagine Lismore consultation, thousands of residents were asked to identify their priorities and the environment topped the list of things people cared about. The community expressed a wish for Lismore to become a model of sustainability.
In order to show leadership and emphasise this as a priority, we developed a Renewable Energy Master Plan. It follows on from a decade of work in which Council tried to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after recognising climate change was a reality.
The Renewable Energy Master Plan involves two distinct stages.
Stage 1 involves significantly reducing consumption with a range of energy efficiency measures such as switching to LED lighting and installing solar PV and solar hot water systems at Council-owned sites. Stage 1 will cost $4 million with a pay-back period of six to seven years.
Stage 2 involves construction of a large-scale 3.8-4.7 MW solar plant, which would cost approximately $15 million. The Renewable Energy Master Plan determined that at present Stage 2 is not commercially viable. However, it is expected that developments across a range of areas such as storage technology and the ability to ‘move’ electricity across sites will occur in coming years. Therefore the recommendation is to maintain watch on such developments and prepare for implementation of Stage 2 closer to the target year of 2023.
You can read the full plan below as well as results from Council's earlier work to reduce emissions.
Renewable Energy Master Plan (10.8MB)