The construction of what will become Newcastle’s biggest solar farm got underway on Tuesday, with Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes and deputy mayor Declan Clausen turning the sod of a re-purposed landfill site at Summerhill Waste Management Centre.
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Cr Nelmes said the project would save the council money while reducing carbon emissions.
“It’s part of of our long-term vision for a smart, liveable and sustainable city,” she said.
“It will also reduce our cost of electricity by $9 million over its 25 year lifespan, which I think is a really exciting value for residents and ratepayers.”
Council program coordinator Adam Clarke, who began work on the solar farm project three years ago, said it was “good to see it underway”.
“It’s definitely been quite a process, I think when we first started there were five large-scale systems in Australia. We were pushing forward a bit early,” he said.
“This is definitely the largest in the urban zone and the largest on a landfill site.
“We’ve got 20 or 30 different councils calling us about the project because they’re looking at similar things.”
He said construction of the farm should be completed by June next year. Energy Made Clean (EMC) and Lendlease won the contract for the build as a joint venture.
Cassie Brenmer, of the Climate Council, congratulated Newcastle on the solar project.
She said Newcastle was one of 100 councils involved in her organisation’s Cities Power Partnership, a program fostering collaboration between local councils in the area of renewable energy.
“It’s [council solar farms] happening more and more, we do have a lot of exciting projects going on,” Ms Bremner said.
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