Lismore Community Solarfarms have launched

Lismore Community Solarfarms has ‘plugged in’ its two 99kW solar arrays which brings the project to completion.
It was a day of celebration on Tuesday 30 January 2018, as we launched and “turned on” Farming the Sun’s two Lismore Community Solarfarms: the 99kW rooftop solarfarm on Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre; and Australia’s largest floating solarfarm, also 99kW, at the East Lismore Sewage Treatment Plant.

The innovative floating design of the initial solar array at the Lismore Sewage Treatment Plant provides capacity for the solarfarm to expand across the overflow ponds. As this facility is one of the town’s biggest energy consumers, Council’s aim is to eventually power the treatment plant with 100% solar energy as part of their Imagine Lismore 10 Year Plan 2013-2023. In fact, Council are working to achieve their goal of sourcing 100% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2023!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PygKwnkRf4

The Community Solarfarm Model
All of our learning and detailed information about the process of making the Lismore Community Solarfarms a reality has been encapsulated in the Community Solarfarm Model, which is now freely available under a Creative Commons license to help other communities work towards generating their own renewable energy.

There are also a number of other community renewable energy projects springing up across Australia, and each has developed a slightly different model to meet the unique needs of their community.

For those interested in potentially creating their own community renewable energy project, the Coalition For Community Energy (C4CE) have developed a useful decision making tree to help groups identify which community solar model is best suited to their goals and circumstances.