Logan City doubles down on solar to cut power costs, prepare for EVs

The City of Logan in south-east Queensland is set to slash another $55,200 a year from its electricity costs, by adding five new rooftop solar systems across five more council sites.

The new systems will be added to the rooftop solar rich local government area over the course of the 2019/2020 financial year at a cost of $408,000 – a cost which council expects to recoup within eight years.

System sizes have not yet been detailed, but the council has previously installed a total of 29 solar PV systems, ranging in size from 87kW – at the Round Mountain Reservoir – to 30kW at the Browns Plains Recycling Centre, and smaller.

Also installed the Round Mountain Reservoir is a 95kWh Tesla Powerpack, believed to be Australia’s first off-grid solar and battery storage system to include a Powerpack.

The battery combines with the solar at the reservoir to make a micro-grid powered “electro-chlorinator” that helps maintain local drinking water quality 24 hours a day.

The sites to get solar PV next include the Logan West Community Centre, the Mt Warren Sports Centre, the Logan North Aquatic Centre, Logan West Library and Marsden Library.

Logan City said in a statement last week that the new PV installs would continue the Council’s commitment to embrace renewables and meet its carbon neutral goal in 2022.

Brisbane’s Courier-Mail reports that the council is also looking to build charging stations for electric vehicles, to complement its growing investment in solar power.

“We don’t want to be charging an environmentally-sustainable vehicle with coal-fired electricity and solar is more affordable,” a senior council officer is quoted as saying.

As noted above, the City of Logan has embraced solar in a big way over the past decade, installing 38,000 individual PV systems, representing 157 megawatts of capacity, according to council.

As you can see in the Climate Council graphic above, some of the city’s postcodes rank among the top in Australia for rooftop solar uptake of 50 per cent or higher.