Like the other Solar Cities projects across Australia, as part of the Australian Government’s $94 million Solar Cities program, the Central Victoria Solar City Project offers incentives to local residents and businesses to participate in a trial range of energy efficiency, local energy generation and demand management products and services.

Unique to the Central Victoria project is the trial of two 300 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) solar parks, which will test infrastructure funding ideas for renewable energy, ascertaining whether – with the right price – people will invest in a local energy power station as a community company, much like investment in community banks. Most significantly, the project will build a retail transaction directly with customers.

“Building a solar park and selling the power into the grid is a sensible concept. The bit that is special is that we are trying to weave the customer into (the model) rather than treating the solar park trial like a wholesale market,” says Project Director Michael McCartney.

Driven by the conviction that we need to find local solutions for local issues, Mr McCartney co-wrote the business case for the project with The Central Victoria Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA), including the concept for the retail PV solar park. He also helped bring together the consortium partners, including Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Origin Energy and Powercor.

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“This project shows that industry, business and community groups can work together on sustainability concepts. Working together to create new energy solutions is better than keeping distant,” says Mr McCartney.

Each solar park has a cap of 150 participants, so that participating in the project is equivalent to owning a 2 kW solar PV installation.

Currently, Bendigo Solar Park Pty Ltd and Ballarat Solar Park Pty Ltd own the solar parks. At the end of the trial, in June 2013, it is proposed that the parks will be offered for broad-based community ownership.

A participation fee of approximately $220 a year (until the end of June, 2013) reflects the cost of establishing and operating the parks, as well as financial incentives provided by the project during the trial period. This includes the Central Victoria Solar City Feed-in Tariff – a gross tariff of 60 cents per kilowatt per hour, which is a credit based on the electricity generated by a participant’s share of the park; and the Central Victoria Solar City Investment Allowance – a capital allowance component.

Mr McCartney explains that the trial is about creating the right conditions – including the gross production feed-in tariff – and the right regulatory framework, as already exists in a number of European countries.

“This project may also help broaden the debate about green power,” says Mr McCartney, adding that if people can actually see and own the infrastructure that generates green power, it will help increase consumer confidence in renewable energy as a viable retail option.

The $42 million Central Victoria Solar City project is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, the Central Victoria Solar City Consortium and other supporting organisations.

Consortium members include Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA), Origin Energy, Powercor and ZC02e. The Victorian Government, through Sustainability Victoria and the Sustainability Fund, is also a key funding contributor. Fourteen local municipalities in Central Victoria support the project.