Central Victoria Solar City
The Central Victoria Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA) set up a private company, Sustainable Regional Australia (SRA) to act as the lead proponent of the federal government’s $42 million Central Victoria Solar City (CVSC), part of the Australian Government’s Solar Cities program.
The Solar Cities program was designed to offer incentives to local residents, businesses and various market sectors to participate in a trial range of energy efficiency and local energy generation products and services. The project closed in June 2013.
The CVSC bid was prepared in 2005 by a consortium led by the CVGA that included Powercor, Origin and the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. The project was also financially supported by the Victorian Government Sustainability Fund and Sustainability Victoria.
Central Victoria Solar City was unique amongst the other 6 solar cities across Australia in that it sought to engage a number of diverse regional communities across one third of Victoria; it included longitudinal analysis of the impacts of a range of energy efficiency interventions across a number of years based on Powercor data drawn directly from people’s energy consumption data (energy meter readings) and, it operated in a large regional setting. The project was delivered across 14 municipalities, constituting 9% of Victoria’s population.
The Solar Cities program was designed to offer incentives to local residents, businesses and various market sectors to participate in a trial range of energy efficiency and local energy generation products and services. The project closed in June 2013.
The CVSC bid was prepared in 2005 by a consortium led by the CVGA that included Powercor, Origin and the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. The project was also financially supported by the Victorian Government Sustainability Fund and Sustainability Victoria.
Central Victoria Solar City was unique amongst the other 6 solar cities across Australia in that it sought to engage a number of diverse regional communities across one third of Victoria; it included longitudinal analysis of the impacts of a range of energy efficiency interventions across a number of years based on Powercor data drawn directly from people’s energy consumption data (energy meter readings) and, it operated in a large regional setting. The project was delivered across 14 municipalities, constituting 9% of Victoria’s population.
Sub Trials
The CVSC project pursued a number of energy efficiency and renewable energy generation research sub-trials, including:
CVSC completed the engagement phase for most of its sub-trials, including the household sub-trial, in December 2011. The final outcomes of the research were launched and disseminated in June 2013.
Research
Research data for the project was collected by the University of Ballarat through pre-intervention energy bills, post-intervention smart meter readings, and four surveys conducted during the course of the trial. Anecdotal, qualitative data was also collected informally through stakeholder and participant conversations.
Click Here to read the Central Victoria Solar City final report.
Achievements
Household Trial
SME Trial
Schools Trial
Two partnerships were established with lighthouse schools, Castlemaine Secondary College and Swan Hill Primary School, to showcase opportunities for educating primary and high school students about the benefits of solar energy. Twenty-five teachers across the region took part in professional development training around model solar car and boat building, based on Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) aligned curriculum units, developed as part of the trial. A further ten schools across the region have also been financially supported by the trial to develop their own model solar car or solar boat challenge.
Ballarat Health Service Trial
The project has partnered with Ballarat Health Services (BHS) to create an energy performance precinct to showcase the benefits of 78kW of Solar PV, two industrial solar hot water services, and two electric vehicles which are used by BHS staff for short trips around Ballarat.
Medium Scale Solar Trial
CVSC completed the design, construction and grid connection of Victoria’s first solar photovoltaic parks. The Bendigo and Ballarat Solar Parks were opened in November 2009 and together generated roughly one Gigawatt hour of clean energy per annum. CVSC developed a business model to underpin the solar parks. This model was aimed at helping surrounding communities and organisations understand the necessary ingredients for a commercially viable, local, renewable power station. Model components included the build price, power purchase agreement, subsidies from government and community support.
Renewable Communities
CVSC worked with three communities, Newstead, Kyabram and Murchison, to identify and address the barriers to distributed energy generation and promote a whole-of-community approach towards energy saving.
Central Victoria Solar City Project Partners
As part of the $42 million Central Victoria Solar City project, SRA led a consortium of energy distributors, financiers and retailers, as well as a multi-municipality membership organisation, to trial a number of energy efficiency and renewable energy products and services across the household, business, school and health service sectors. SRA’s research partner in this project was the University of Ballarat.
The CVSC project pursued a number of energy efficiency and renewable energy generation research sub-trials, including:
- Households
- Small to Medium Business Enterprises (SMEs)
- In-Home Displays
- Schools
- A Large Health Service
- Medium Scale Solar
- Demand Management Pricing, and
- Community Micro-Engagement
CVSC completed the engagement phase for most of its sub-trials, including the household sub-trial, in December 2011. The final outcomes of the research were launched and disseminated in June 2013.
Research
Research data for the project was collected by the University of Ballarat through pre-intervention energy bills, post-intervention smart meter readings, and four surveys conducted during the course of the trial. Anecdotal, qualitative data was also collected informally through stakeholder and participant conversations.
Click Here to read the Central Victoria Solar City final report.
Achievements
Household Trial
- Delivery of 2,750 home energy assessments
- Uptake of household solar PV (521 participants)
- Trialled the use of In-Home Displays (524 participants)
- Uptake of household retrofits (351 participants)
- Uptake of solar hot water (65 participants)
SME Trial
- Delivery of 120 business energy assessments. Click Here for examples of business case studies
Schools Trial
Two partnerships were established with lighthouse schools, Castlemaine Secondary College and Swan Hill Primary School, to showcase opportunities for educating primary and high school students about the benefits of solar energy. Twenty-five teachers across the region took part in professional development training around model solar car and boat building, based on Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) aligned curriculum units, developed as part of the trial. A further ten schools across the region have also been financially supported by the trial to develop their own model solar car or solar boat challenge.
Ballarat Health Service Trial
The project has partnered with Ballarat Health Services (BHS) to create an energy performance precinct to showcase the benefits of 78kW of Solar PV, two industrial solar hot water services, and two electric vehicles which are used by BHS staff for short trips around Ballarat.
Medium Scale Solar Trial
CVSC completed the design, construction and grid connection of Victoria’s first solar photovoltaic parks. The Bendigo and Ballarat Solar Parks were opened in November 2009 and together generated roughly one Gigawatt hour of clean energy per annum. CVSC developed a business model to underpin the solar parks. This model was aimed at helping surrounding communities and organisations understand the necessary ingredients for a commercially viable, local, renewable power station. Model components included the build price, power purchase agreement, subsidies from government and community support.
Renewable Communities
CVSC worked with three communities, Newstead, Kyabram and Murchison, to identify and address the barriers to distributed energy generation and promote a whole-of-community approach towards energy saving.
Central Victoria Solar City Project Partners
As part of the $42 million Central Victoria Solar City project, SRA led a consortium of energy distributors, financiers and retailers, as well as a multi-municipality membership organisation, to trial a number of energy efficiency and renewable energy products and services across the household, business, school and health service sectors. SRA’s research partner in this project was the University of Ballarat.
Research partner
|
The University of Ballarat, through the Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness (CRIC), and the Centre for Informatics and Applied Optimization (CIAO), was responsible for providing the monitoring and evaluation component of the Central Victoria Solar City program. The University brought academic rigour and a robust methodology to the trial, using longitudinal analysis to assess different energy technologies and hypotheses relating to energy use behaviour change. The University co-authored the Central Victoria Solar City’s 2012-13 Final Report, and also released its own comprehensive evaluation of the project in June 2013. |
Consortium partners
|
Powercor provided all metering installation and support for the Central Victoria Solar City program. Powercor offered the installation of a smart meter for the household trial participants at no cost. Powercor also provided interval or smart meters for the control group. Powercor offered strategic guidance and input into the delivery of each of CVSC’s offers, in particular PV and the provision of In-Home Displays. Powercor provided in excess of $3.3million in-kind support to the CVSC initiative.
|
|
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank championed the development of Australia’s only regionally based Solar City, CVSC, to highlight the capability of regional and remote communities in reducing energy use and generating green energy innovatively. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank provided more than $14million in-kind in the form of intellectual property and access to financial products CVSC would otherwise have found difficult to procure.
|
|
The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET), formerly the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, provided $14.9million over five years to Central Victoria Solar City. These funds supported program delivery, including the administration, working capital and ongoing business operations of the project. As well as this, Commonwealth funding supported the development of CVSC’s two solar parks in Bendigo and Ballarat, rebates offered to residential participants, major projects at Ballarat Hospital and Swan Hill Primary School and formal research carried out by the University of Ballarat. The Commonwealth also funded the provision of free Home Energy Assessments to household trial participants and subsidised energy assessments for small business trial participants.
|
|
Sustainability Victoria supported the Central Victoria Solar City initiative by providing $1.5million over five years. Sustainability Victoria’s contribution supported the delivery of free Home Energy Assessments, subsidised business energy assessments and development of battery storage at the Bendigo Solar Park. Sustainability Victoria was a major supporter of Central Victoria Solar City’s 100% Renewable Communities Program, delivered in Newstead, Murchison and Kyabram.
|
|
The Sustainability Fund (SF) supported CVSC by providing $1million over five years to contribute to the cost of the research and evaluation component of the initiative.
|