Barwon Water is the first water corporation in Victoria to power all its facilities with renewable electricity.
It was 2016 when Barwon Water outlined its vision to source 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable generation.
The corporation was determined to be a regional leader in the transition to a sustainable future, as it forecast increasing pressure being placed on its finite resources.
Following a series of innovative investments and strategic partnerships, Barwon Water has reached that goal.
In doing so, it became the first water corporation in the state to meet the aim, as set down by the Victorian Government, to source all electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
The target was outlined in Victoria’s Climate Change Strategy and formalised in the water corporations’ Statement of Obligations (Emission Reduction), by the Victorian Water Minister in 2022.
The strong policy goal provided Barwon Water increasing confidence and incentive to invest in an array of innovative projects.
Barwon Water Managing Director, Shaun Cumming, said the achievement was the result of a long-term commitment to bold action.
“This milestone reflects our commitment to a healthier environment and providing essential water and wastewater services sustainably,” Mr Cumming said.
“It has been made possible through collaboration with our regional stakeholders and water sector peers and the support of our customers.”
As Victoria’s largest regional urban water corporation, Barwon Water’s responsibilities stretch across 8,100km2 to more than 370,000 residents.
The diverse region services rural communities in the east (Little River) and north (Meredith, Cressy), the urban centre of Geelong and coastal towns as far south-west as Apollo Bay.
The Great Ocean Road, the Otway Ranges and Ramsar-listed wetlands of the lower Barwon River are among its iconic natural assets.
Treating and moving water across the region is energy intensive, and electricity use was the corporation’s largest emission source, previously accounting for about 80 per cent of its underlying emissions.
Its facilities use more than 30GWh of electricity per year – the equivalent of about 6,000 homes.
Where it all began
Nestled on a quiet section of Bellarine Peninsula’s coast, Black Rock is inextricably linked to Barwon Water’s energy transition.
The 290ha site – which also hosts a major wastewater reclamation plant – has been pivotal to several significant advancements.
While it’s now a renewables powerhouse, Black Rock’s transformation story begins with a sole wind turbine. First turned on in 1987, Barwon Water restored the wind turbine to service in 2004.
But it’s solar, not wind, that is now synonymous with Black Rock. The solar farm was installed in 2018, before tripling in size the following year to 8,100 panels.
With a 3MW capacity, it became the largest of its kind in the Australian water industry.
Planning and design work is underway to further transform the Black Rock precinct, with a focus on delivering a world-leading renewable energy and organic materials solution to rapidly build the region’s circular economy.
Other key initiatives
The success of the solar investment at Black Rock was a clear demonstration that the water industry could harness renewables on a large scale.
This has led to several major ventures, with industry partners and other regional authorities keen to partner with Barwon Water on sustainability initiatives.
Barwon Water and 12 other Victorian water corporations came together to form a new collective, dubbed ‘Zero Emissions Water’.
The collective used its buying power to purchase 78GWh of renewable electricity annually from the Kiamal solar farm, in north-west Victoria.
Barwon Water has also entered a joint venture closer to home, partnering with Geelong-based organisations Barwon Health and GeelongPort for a wind energy deal.
Called the Barwon Renewable Energy Partnership, it sees the three organisations purchase power from the Mount Gellibrand Wind Farm, near Birregurra.
Alongside this, Barwon Water has solar arrays (from 30kW to 300kW) at multiple reclamation plants and maintenance depots.
Organics processing
The innovative partnerships have been extended to private industry and councils.
In Colac, about 80km west of Geelong, Barwon Water has teamed with two of the region’s biggest employers: Bulla Dairy Foods and the Australian Lamb Company (ALC).
In another Australian-first initiative, the Colac Renewable Organics Network is taking organic waste from the two businesses and transforming it into renewable energy and hot water. This allows Barwon Water’s reclamation plant in Colac to run on green and low-cost energy.
In turn, the initiative supports the businesses slashing their wastewater treatment costs, reducing their gas usage, and providing heated water to run their operations.
An organics recycling facility is also planned for Black Rock. Called the Regional Renewable Organics Network (RRON), it will utilise technologies – anaerobic digestion and carbonisation – that produce energy, rather than draw on it.
Agreements are in place with local councils, to convert an estimated 40,000t of household food, garden and industrial organic waste to biochar and renewable energy.
“About a third of the waste that ends up in our household bin is food and most of this goes to landfill,” Mr Cumming said.
“The RRON provides an innovative solution to manage our increasing amount of waste, and to build the region’s circular economy.”
The RRON will safely convert the waste into products for high value use in agribusiness and sustainable manufacturing, while also producing renewable energy. The benefits for the region will be enormous. The facility will reduce emissions by about 13,000t annually, while also creating approximately 60,000GJ of renewable energy each year.
The project is in the planning stage, with preparations focusing on designs and the relevant applications. Pending approvals, construction is likely to start in 2025, with operations to begin in late 2026.
What lies ahead
Barwon Water’s renewable electricity portfolio has a capacity of 25MW, generating around 65GWh of electricity annually.
With the ability to generate more electricity than its facilities require, excess power is being exported back to the grid.
This is minimising operating costs, helping to keep prices affordable for customers, while helping to protect the region’s natural environment.
Barwon Water applies a caring for Country approach, drawing from Traditional Owners to enhance the natural and cultural values of its sites.
This approach informs its work to protect the region’s natural assets and the organisation’s overall goal of reaching net zero emissions.
“We are strongly focused on our 2030 target of achieving net zero emissions across our operations and doing it in a way that reduces energy costs,” Mr Cumming said.
“This includes tackling direct emissions from wastewater treatment processes and transitioning to a zero‑emissions vehicle fleet.”
Renewable hydrogen production, using recycled water, is among the exciting initiatives being explored.
This would fuel hydrogen vehicles and deliver efficiencies in the wastewater treatment process by using the oxygen byproduct of hydrogen production.
However, some emissions in the latter would remain, with Barwon Water looking to address these via offsets.
Carbon sequestration
Nature-based carbon sequestration – which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by re-establishing forest on cleared land – is central to achieving net zero emissions by 2030.
Planning is underway on the organisation’s first project of this kind, which will revegetate about 150ha at Dewing Creek, near Barwon Downs. More than 100,000 plants, reflecting local and historical vegetation, will go into the ground. The habitat of up to 28 threatened species – including eight threatened plants – will be expanded through the works.
“The vegetation will remain permanently, ensuring long-term environmental benefits for the area and providing habitat for native wildlife,” Mr Cumming said.
In addition to improving biodiversity and drinking water catchment health, the initiative will remove 50,000t of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next 25 years.
Featured image: the renewable electricity milestone was celebrated at Barwon Water’s Torquay Tank. Image: Barwon Water
