Gippsland Water will soon begin a large-scale solar project, installing over 2,000 solar panels next to its Gippsland Water Factory.
Gippsland Water Managing Director, Sarah Cumming, said the organisation would be installing the 2,000 solar panels to power the facility, which treats and recycles wastewater from industry and nine towns in central Gippsland.
“This project is our most recent of many that use renewable energy to power our plants and reduce our carbon footprint,” Ms Cumming said.
“The 1280KW system produces enough energy to power over 400 Victorian households and at its peak capacity it will be able to completely power the factory.”
In line with the Victorian Government’s strong renewable energy and climate change targets, Ms Cumming said the project will help reduce Gippsland Water’s power costs and contribute to the organisation reaching its targets of 100 per cent renewable energy and a 24 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
The Gippsland Water Factory site is already powered in part by a biogas cogeneration engine and a hydroelectric generator, which helps the water and wastewater service provider reduce its energy bill.
“Once the system is installed and running, we’ll be in a unique position of having three types of renewable energy powering the water factory,” Ms Cumming said.
This will be the organisation’s seventh site to be powered by solar, with systems already installed at the Warragul, Traralgon and Tyers water treatment plants, Warragul and Moe wastewater treatment plants, and the Traralgon office.
“There’ll be more projects to come as we take further action to reduce our carbon emissions and our energy costs,” Ms Cumming said.
For more information on how the Victorian Government is planning to reduce the water sector’s greenhouse gas emissions visit: www.water.vic.gov.au/water-for-victoria.
