Hopes solar will drive down costs

A PROJECTED drop in electricity costs for one local golf club after switching to solar power is helping them expand their membership to more female and junior players.

The Bendigo Golf Club installed 68 solar panels at their facility with a $12,000 Federal Government grant to help reduce the more than $35,000 spent annually on electricity bills.

General manager Brock Rogers said the savings would be redirected into a range of membership programs.

“We’re seeing a significant decrease in the amount of energy that were using each day. We’re looking forward to getting that first power bill and seeing it firsthand, but just from the data we’re receiving we understand there’ll be significant savings for us,” he said.

“The money that we’ve saved on our electricity bills, we’re going to put back into our amazing golf club here, whether that’s putting it toward other initiatives like the junior development programs or inclusion programs.”

The funding was allocated from the Federal Government’s Powering Communities Program, which aims to help groups become more energy efficient.

Federal Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said the club was a top pick to receive the money, but more needed to be done to continue the support.

“What’s frustrating is that these grants were a bit of a once off, they’re not ongoing,” she said.

“What we’ve got to do at a Federal level is… have these grants rolling so that people can keep applying for them.

“We had a huge list of people wanting to tap into these resources. It’s one of the only ways community-based sporting clubs… can access a bit of support to help them become more energy efficient.”