Queensland’s Mackay Regional Council has become the latest Australia local government to shift its operations to solar, in a bid to cut its electricity costs and pass millions of dollars of savings on to ratepayers.
The council – in the heart of one of the state’s biggest coal regions – says a tender to install 1.7MW of solar at 21 council facilities – including the main administration building, libraries, depots and water assets – has been awarded to Brisbane-based firm Akcome Power for $2.1 million.
Council said that cost would be offset by $541,890 in small-scale renewable energy certificates, taking the actual price of the project – once other council and contingency costs are included – down to just over $1.97 million.
That is going to provide a significant return for the council, with the investment paid back on average in four years, and total savings on electricity bills over the next 20 years estimated at $16.89 million – even after maintenance and replacement inverters.
It will also include taking one council depot “off-grid” with 40kW of solar and 20kWh of battery storage as a “trial” – although the network connection will stay in place for up to two years “just in case.”
“Council, like households, has been hard hit by rising electricity prices,’’ said Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson in comments on Friday.
“This fairly modest initial outlay is an investment in the future which will provide ongoing cost savings.”
The awarding of the tender came after a bidding process that was narrowed down from 16 applicants to four finalists, and the pricing offered by Akcome stunned its rivals, coming in at more than $1 million below two rivals bids, and $850,000 below the nearest contender.
The other companies were Solgen, Linked Group, and Green Energy Technology. (You can read the tender details and council considerations here from page 244).
“This would have to be a new record for pricing,” said one rival bidder. “Even for megawatt scale installations I have not seen this.”
The equipment proposed to be used by Akcome includes Huawei and ABB inverters – with 10 year warranties – and unspecified solar panels with 30-year warranties. It is likely that it is the pricing of the solar modules that would be the difference for the China-linked Akcome.
Council said the winning tender had been reviewed by consultancy Peak Services, which reviewed the pricing and the credentials of the winning bidder and declared it to be satisfied.
The council says the decision to go solar will boost the local economy, and generate a number of jobs over the course of the project.
“Akcome has advised it will engage local Clean Energy Council of Australia-accredited electricians, as well as local non-accredited experienced electricians to work with them, plus local trades assistants,” Mayor Williamson said.
“They expect to use 60 to 70 per cent Mackay-area based tradespeople to complete the installation.”
Council noted that it had initially investigated investing in large-scale renewable energy projects through an expression of interest (EOI) process, but found they were “not financially viable at this time.”
This graph above shows the anticipated return on one of the facilities, on Civic Centre, which will install 100kW of rooftop solar for $93,000, delivering net savings of $854,000 over 20 years.
As we have reported on One Step, local governments around Australia have in many cases taken the lead on installing renewable energy resources, with a growing number of councils turning to solar, in particular, to cut their costs and in turn cut costs for ratepayers.
This post was published on May 16, 2018 10:14 am
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Interesting, i can’t think of any panels on the Australian market with a 30 year warranty.
Sunpower is among the best with 25 years, LG recently matched that.
If they are quoting performance warranties instead of product warranties, well...
No Guy, I haven't heard of 30yrs warranty either.
There are a few with 30 year warranties now....
And they are....................?
Geez, do I have to do your job too, just expired certificate approval on Amerisolar was 30 years, current certificate approval on ZN Shine (Tier 1) is 30 years too, there are heaps..
Never came to my attention never heard of ZN Shine. There are literally hundreds of panels on the CEC list and perhaps it's your job to only look at these things. My job is multi faceted and you wouldn't be able to do my job.
Looks like a bit of a stuff up boys........ if the individual sites are within the same postcode, and the systems are built for the same purpose, ie saving money and reducing GHG for council. Under the legislation, the capacity of each site will be added together forming a cumulative postcode/system kW capacity.... So for this project, it makes the combination of sites within a single postcode (with same purpose) higher than 100kW, which is ineligible for small scale RECs, If all the jobs are within the same postcode, only large scale RECs can be used for this job. They are worth far more anyway, but cashflow will need to be changed quickly.... If the council wants to use a more experienced team, give us a call on (07) 3390 2333. Solar Farmers Pty Ltd.
Craig I'm so sorry, but you have the wrong end of the stick old mate. According to the CER if these systems are all under 99.99kwp and are not electrically connected to each other and have different NMI numbers, which they will for each building, then they will receive STC's. And that is regardless if it is the same owner in the same postcode!
Yep, na...... The CER don't care if they are on different NMI or even street addresses, the legislation reads for the same purpose. The reason the CER use the legislation this way is because in the early days they had farmers who had large properties encompassing multiple NMI and multiply street addresses, and this loophole would have allowed the farmers to game the system with multiple 99kW systems... Cant be done if they use the postcodes though. Give the CER a call, we have rulings and advice from other jobs on file, if you want to come over and meet. Cheers
Not going to QLD and as far as giving the CER a call, already did 12 months ago and just to make sure of my facts, I just got a call back form CER to confirm that you are wrong on the STC ruling!
Ha ha ha, hope you have that in writing if you are going to risk your money and your clients. Written rulings are the only way to be sure with CER. Usually takes a couple of weeks for them to rule on a job.
It is the Validation team you need the letter from, the call centre guys don't have any authority when push comes to shove.
The last time we went through this with them was in 2015 when Mat P was the manager at CER and Cassie C was the contact in the
Validation Team / Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme
RET- Market Entry / Renewables and Carbon Farming T 1300 553 542.
Cheers
A $845k cheaper bid......umm.......undisclosed panel brands. Could be a recipe for disaster, councils frequently make dumb decisions.