The outback Queensland Shire of Winton will soon power all of its local government buildings and infrastructure using locally sourced renewable energy, after the council waved through plans to build two geothermal plants with a total 300kW capacity.
It is part of an ambitious plan by the council to tap into geothermal energy and create their own networks to supply their own locally generated power to council buildings ~ an idea that could be adopted by neighbouring councils.
Winton Shire Mayor, “Butch” Lenton, said the bores – a part of the Great Artesian Basin – were found to be “really suitable” for the latest geothermal energy technology, providing water at a temperature of 86°C, and at a flow rate of 72 litres per second.
He says the plants will be used mainly to power council infrastructure first up and could save the council as much as $400,000 a year once they were up and operational. This is expected to be the case by the end of 2016.
For Mayor Lenton, one of the best things about the project is that it means precious council resources can be freed up to go towards other things for the community, which has recently experienced drought and economic hardship.
“At 54,000 square km, and 1400 people, (Winton Shire) hasn’t got a big rate base, so we’ve got to try and work around things,” said Lenton
Web link: Queensland councils to tap geothermals to slash energy costs | One Step off the Grid
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