Switch to solar sees massive savings

Published on 16 August 2018

In just six weeks, the City of Swan has knocked thousands of dollars off its energy bill and significantly reduced its CO2 emissions as a result of new rooftop solar panel systems across seven facilities.

With a total solar generation capacity of 163 kW, the City’s solar panels have so far produced 12,373 kWhrs of solar energy, avoiding 8.6t CO2 emissions and saving the City more than $4,000 in the last six weeks.

City of Swan Mayor David Lucas said while the results were impressive, they were set to get even better.

“When put into context, we’ve produced enough solar energy in the last six weeks to power 20 average homes, which is a great result,” he said.

“Despite the very wet and grey weather we’ve experienced over the last six weeks, we’ve produced some fantastic results; and we look forward to even greater solar energy production and savings as the days become longer and sunnier.”

The new panels are located at Midland Sporting Complex, Swan Caring Centre in Midland, Woodlake Community Centre in Ellenbrook, Swan Active Ballajura, Coolamon Pavilion in Ellenbrook, Ethel Warren Bullsbrook Community Centre and Percy Cullen Pavilion in Gidgegannup.

The solar installations mark the achievement of one of the City’s pledges toward the Cities Power Partnership, a climate change initiative involving local governments around Australia.

Whiteman Ward Councillor John McNamara said the City is actively protecting its local environment for future generations through sustainable practice.

“Mitigating the City’s carbon footprint by reducing our greenhouse gas production is one the City’s highest priorities, both within our organisation and in our community,” he said.

“We have been very active in achieving energy efficiency for a number of years; in 2017 we completely retrofitted our administration building with LED lighting, which reduces our lighting emissions by 61 per cent every year.

“We are also targeting efficiency in our fleet emissions, with a number of electric vehicles now part of our fleet and a public charging station located in Midland.

“We continue to look for ways to be more sustainable, and encourage our community to follow in our footsteps.”

To find out more about living more sustainably, visit our sustainable living page.