BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 1035 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
POWER POINT BRIGHT FUTURE: Bendigo Sustainability Group’s Keith Reynard. Photo: BILL CONROY
By SHARON KEMP
BENDIGO’S energy sector leaders want to be part of the search for power generation sources for energy reserves as half of local businesses invest in renewable energy. Preliminary results from a council study show a tipping point in local energy supply, with more people employed in the solar energy sector than in coal and half of Bendigo’s businesses investing in renewable energy sources. As residents are warned to expect outages this summer and power con-
■
Bendigo steps into supply hub plan
tracts that have thus far buffeted local companies with high energy costs due to expire, a group of Bendigo specialists updated Engineers Australia members on Wednesday about moves to investigate more sustainable power sources. Alternative sources are becoming more urgent as energy provider AGL this week threatened to close its Liddell coal-fired power station in the
Hunter Valley in 2022, which Australia’s energy market operator AEMO said would force further power shortfalls in Victoria after that date. AEMO has recommended Victoria accelerate its search for new power generation sources to shore up energy reserves. The operator hopes the results of work by the City of Greater Bendigo and local industry will lead to further
Fire risk warning – Page 3
■
government investment into technologies that could put central Victoria in a prime position to become the engine of the state. Bendigo is seeking Smart City funding to investigate ways to become a net energy exporter and the Bendigo Sustainability Group is looking for locations for multiple solar parks, the energy from which it hopes to sell to the state government.
The private, profit-driven sector is also doing its part given it is facing huge rises in energy costs when many Bendigo companies come to negotiate contracts in the next 12 to 18 months. Council’s Jeff Bothe said results of a data collection exercise to create a base on which to measure energy use and investment showed 75 per cent of local companies had already bought energy efficiency technology including lights, soft-start motors or power factor correction equipment.
52-page Property Guide inside
Continued Page 5