The third stage of the More Australian Solar Homes or MASH project will be launched outside the Town Hall in Castlemaine on Friday 29th July at 10am by Cr. Bronwen Machin of Mount Alexander Shire Council. After the launch, people are invited to a presentation on the key features of MASH in the Senior Citizens Hall next to the Castlemaine Library, from 10.15-11.00 am.
MASH is a major community solar bulk-buy project of the Hub Foundation, a local not-for-profit organisation, and is strongly supported by Mount Alexander Shire Council, Macedon Ranges Shire Council and Elliott Midland News.
According to the Foundations’ chair, Neil Barrett, “MASH has succeeded way beyond our expectations. In less than two years, it has been responsible for putting almost 500 solar systems on houses in Mount Alexander and Macedon Ranges. This has resulted in savings on power bills of around $400,000, a cut in emissions of 2600 tonnes and, above all, a large number of very happy customers. Over 26% of houses in Mount Alexander now have solar and 20% in Macedon Ranges.
“Because of the quantities involved, our bulk-buy approach has resulted in very low prices for high quality equipment. We’re also been able to use local installers and employ an increasing number of people in the region. Over the next few months about 20 people will be working for MASH in some capacity.
“In this next stage, we will be concentrating again on Mount Alexander and Macedon Ranges but also, for the first time, on Bendigo where we hope to make quite a difference. The City of Greater Bendigo Council has come on board as the third Council to support this third stage of MASH. And we have now added batteries to our product range to satisfy the huge interest in this new technology.
