Energy

Electricity usage is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Surf Coast Shire and our community is leading the transition towards renewable energy. More than one in five houses in the Surf Coast Shire have installed solar systems and this is growing fast. Our municipality has a higher than average rate of solar uptake, and the highest number of solar installs per capita in the Barwon South West region.

Surf Coast Shire Council is demonstrating leadership in the energy space, having installed solar and battery storage across the shire, invested more than $750,000 to transition our streetlights to the more energy efficient LED type, and through participation in a major local government power purchase agreement that is exploring renewable energy supply options.

We are pleased to be using 100% renewable electricity now via VECO (Victorian Energy Collaboration).

Council has now installed more than 575 kilowatts of solar, and more than 50 kilowatt hours of battery storage to Council facilities across the shire

Solar installed during 2021-2022:

Torquay Senior Citizens – 25kW
Winchelsea Senior Citizens – 20kW
Moriac Community Centre – 10kW
Anglesea Senior Citizens – 10kW
Anglesea Kindergarten – 10kW
Lorne Community Connect – 6kW
Aireys Inlet Community Hall – 15kW solar + 13.5 kWhs storage
Ellimatta Reserve, Anglesea – 22kW solar + 16.3 kWhs storage
Eastern Reserve, Winchelsea – additional 12kW solar + 13.5 kWhs (adding to existing 10kW)

In addition, we installed UBI solar monitoring systems to enhance our monitoring capabilities at all these sites as well as the Civic precinct (Office, KMCC, Grant Pav). We also renewed a system on the Anglesea Visitor Information Centre replacing the old 2kW system to make it a 3.84kW

Solar installed 2019-2020