Waste, energy and water

Shoalhaven solar farm opens

How the City of Sydney harnessed south coast people power.

Monica at Shoalhaven Solar Farm

Residents on the NSW south coast have taken the climate crisis fight into their own hands and built a community solar farm.

It’s 1 of the 3 wind and solar farms the City of Sydney buys renewable electricity from.

The $5 million solar farm will be completed in December. The project shows what can happen when a local community looks at the climate crisis, asks ‘what can we do?’ and takes action.

Once operational, the 3-megawatt Shoalhaven solar farm will have around 10,000 panels and generate enough energy to power 1,500 homes.

We helped subsidise the Shoalhaven solar farm’s renewable certificates cost, allowing it to sell off some surplus power at a competitive rate to local customers.

Supporting the growth of the renewables industry is a key component of our environment strategy and our race to net zero by 2035.

We buy 100% renewable electricity to cover all of our operations – streetlights, sports fields, depots, buildings and the historic Sydney Town Hall.

Our renewable electricity deal is projected to save us up to half a million dollars a year over the next 9 years and slash our emissions by around 20,000 tonnes a year. That’s equivalent to the power consumption of more than 6,000 households.

The Shoalhaven project has been developed by Flow Power with local community group Repower Shoalhaven, a not-for-profit volunteer community enterprise that develops community solar projects.

Published 24 November 2021