THE bleak Bathurst winter is putting the brakes on council’s ability to maximise the potential of the solar-powered electricity systems it has installed at four of its facilities.
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Council has, in recent times, installed units at the Scallywags Child Care Centre and National Motor Racing Museum (NMRM).
This follows units at the Visitor Information Centre (2kW) and amenities block in the paddock area at Mount Panorama (10kW).
Council’s director of planning and building services David Shaw said a 7.22Kw system is now up and running at Scallywags, while a 6kW system was installed at the NMRM.
His report to tonight’s ordinary monthly meeting of council says funding for the two new units came through money made available from rounds two and three of the Federal Government’s Local Government Infrastructure Funding program.
The bad news for council is that Bathurst’s winter isn’t allowing the systems to deliver their potential energy returns to the grid.
“These sites are now used as a means of increasing community awareness and understanding of solar power, as well as reducing each facility’s mains electricity consumption,” the report says.
“Actual production (at Scallywags), which can vary greatly under differing weather conditions, ranged from a low of 7.15kWh on June 18 up to 22.53kWh on June 8.
“For the month of June 2011 the overall system produced 424.11kwh, which is slightly lower than the estimated production.
“It is estimated this 7.22kW system will reduce Scallywags’ greenhouse gas emissions by about 12 tonnes per year.
“The 6kW system at the NMRM will generate approximately 9.6MWh of electricity each year and will reduce the museum’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 10 tonnes per year.”
According to modelling, the production estimate for Scallywags is 11.6MWh per year with a maximum output of 44.1kWh a day during the height of summer in December and a low of 16.9Kwh per day in June.
