<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/we-had-to-wait-for-the-grass-to-grow-how-an-abbott-inspired-community-solar-farm-finally-got-built/>
"Australia’s first community-owned solar farm – with battery – was officially
opened last Saturday, as Sophie Vorrath reported earlier this week.
It’s not big, just 1.4 megawatts of solar and a 4.4 megawatt hour battery, but
it’s the community effort that got it built at all that makes this such an
uplifting and significant story, particularly in the world that we live in now.
The story of the Goulburn community owned solar farm actually began at least 12
years ago. The regional city’s then elected representatives – current federal
Liberal leader Angus Taylor and state MP Pru Goward – were making a lot of
noise opposing nearly every large scale renewable project in the region.
But it was the actions of then prime minister Tony Abbott that really jolted
the local community into action.
“We really owe the existence of this solar farm to Tony Abbott,” Mhairi Fraser,
a member of the Goulburn solar farm co-operative, says in an interview with
Renew Economy’s weekly
Energy Insiders podcast.
“He was just attacking climate scientists, attacking science … you know,
climate change is crap stuff, dismantling a lot of the kind of government
institutions that were supporting climate action and emissions reduction and
certainly really trying to get rid of the Renewable Energy Target.
“There were a lot of us in Goulburn that were furious and we were frustrated. A
lot of us are grandparents and parents and feeling like what is going to happen
to the future generations … if we continue to along a trajectory of reliance on
fossil fuels.”
And so a bunch of them travelled to Canberra for the first Australian community
energy congress. “That was a turning point,” Fraser said. “We thought, why
don’t we build a solar farm? Can’t be that hard.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
