Bendigo group to power new hub

BENDIGO Sustainability Group has been announced as the lead of the new Community Power Hub Loddon Mallee.

The group’s appointment to the role by Sustainability Victoria includes about $800,000 in funding to carry out solar rooftop projects across the region.

President of the BSG Colin Lambie said the new role builds on their experience operating the Bendigo Community Power Hub which has been responsible for implementing a number of solar rooftop projects across the city including at the Bendigo Tramways Depot.

“We’re planning to do more of those sorts of things where we have community groups or individuals in the community investing in solar rooftop projects,” he said.

“It’s very much about upskilling or passing on the skills that we have got over the last few years.”

Mr Lambie said the group have five implementation-ready projects across the region, with one in Mildura and four in Bendigo.

BSG will partially fund the installation of solar panels totalling 100-kilowatts in capacity at Bendigo Foodshare, as well as a backup battery, for one of the projects.

“Up in Mildura one of the amounts of funding we’ve got is to put solar on a sporting facility owned by the council,” he said.

Mr Lambie said the group are also planning to employ staff in some towns across the region to assist with the projects and partner with local sustainability groups.

“It has involved a lot of volunteer time over the last several years, and no doubt will involve more over the next few years, but ultimately we’d like to see people paid to do the work that’s got to be done,” he said.

“We hope to upskill all those people and they can then go on and do more of this into the future.”