Mayor, Cr Christine Henderson has launched the second stage of the Mount Alexander Solar Homes project (MASH).
Many residents have told us that moving towards a sustainable future is important. That’s why Council is pleased to support the MASH project. The Hub Foundation has worked hard to provide high quality solar PV systems with affordable payment options to help residents participate in the second round of the community bulk-buy solar initiative”, Cr Henderson said.
The project is being organised by the Hub Foundation, a not-for-profit company which has grown out of the Hub office and restaurant building in Castlemaine.
According to Project Officer, Jo Kaptein, “The first stage which took place last year was extremely successful: 225 homes had over 3,000 panels installed on their roofs. Today, almost one in four of the homes in the Shire have solar on their roofs, compared with only one in ten in Victoria overall.”
“A great deal was learned in MASH 1 and these lessons have been incorporated into the offer for MASH2. We’ve maintained the emphasis on value for money so that our offer is for high quality components at the best possible prices. Once again we went out to tender and chose the best all-round deal”.
“This time we are offering a standard system and a premium system. Both systems will work very well with high reliability and both will trigger an email to the householder if their performance drops below a certain guaranteed level.
“The lower-priced standard system has been extremely successful in solar bulk buys conducted by several Melbourne councils in the past year. For example, in mid 2014, over 400 of these systems were installed in the Darebin Council area.
“The premium system will have a slightly higher output of electricity and more bells and whistles. For example, the inverter will allow a major appliance in the house to turn on automatically during the day when solar output reaches a certain level.
“Also in stage 2 we have greatly improved the financing options on offer. As in stage 1, people can buy the system outright or (if they can’t top up their housing loan) borrow at a low interest rate from the Community First Credit Union. But this time they can also lease a system so that they have a guaranteed low price for electricity they use during the solar producing hours for 15 years.
Both systems will be compatible with batteries when they become available at competitive prices in the next one to four years.
“Although our supplier is Melbourne-based, we’re working as much as possible with local installers, graphic artists, administrators and web developers. Morgan Kurrajong of Universal Power Castlemaine has already signed up to work as an installer on MASH 2.
“There will also be a community bonus in the form of two free solar systems for a community organisation. These will be installed once 100 MASH2 systems have gone in.
The project is being supported by four major partners, Mount Alexander Shire Council, Midland Express, Cantwell Property Castlemaine and the accountant, K.W. Grimes & Associates. In addition, 10 local businesses have issued a total of 50 vouchers which households will use for local purchases. This will help bring people into our businesses and also promote the project as most of their customers will find out more about the benefits of going solar.
There will also be information meetings around the Shire later in June and regular Solar coffee mornings at the Good Table, part of the Hub building in Barker Street. The first coffee morning will be next Tuesday 16 June from 9.30-11.00am.
As part of its contribution to the project, the Midland Express is pleased to again feature the column Solar Matters by Neil Barrett, the chair of the Hub Foundation. This will provide readers with news about solar power from local, national and global sources over the next 10 weeks.
Read this story in the Midland Express.
