Taryn Lane
Hepburn Shire had an additional 4MW of new solar installed over the 2023 financial year.
This news comes from Hepburn Z-NET, a collaborative partnership helping Hepburn Shire move towards zero-net emissions by 2030.
The most recent Z-NET electricity audit for FY2023 showed significant gains in rooftop solar across the Shire, with 4MW of new solar installed in the year, bringing the total installed solar to 20.1MW, an increase of 20% over the year.
The community has almost doubled their rooftop solar since 2018. This means that community wide the Z-NET targets for new solar PV on residential and business (8.5MW) have been met – and it is only picking up pace.
Of particular note were the former Cameron and Holcombe Wards both at 39% rooftop solar penetration up from 24% for Cameron and 26% for Holcombe.
Electricity consumption continues to rise due to electrification but is offset by huge growth in solar, slowly growing at around 4,000MWh per annum. Due to this combination of factors, there was a small reduction in electricity emissions – from 49,536 to 48,097 tonnes.
Hepburn Z-NET is now welcoming local and diverse stakeholders to apply to join the Z-NET Roundtable for 2025. Under a Collaborative Governance model, the roundtable brings together community groups, organisations, community members, experts and Council to tackle emissions in the Shire. Interested applicants can complete an expression of interest available on the Hepburn Shire Council website: participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au/hepburn-z-net. This will remain open until 12 pm on 25 November 2024.
Find out more about Hepburn Z-NET actions and the roundtable on the Z-NET website at hepburnznet.org.au/.
Taryn Lane is the General Manager of Hepburn Energy.
