Inspired by Yackandandah and Tatura, hopeful for Greater Shepparton

Inspired by what is happening at Yackandandah, several other small Australian towns and what is unfolding at Tatura with its Energy Transition Plan about embracing renewable energy, it seems only right that the City of Greater Shepparton should also pursue such an ideal.

What follows is a newspaper column written for the Shepparton News, (as yet unpublished for the editor has discouraged from me further opinion about climate change) which I am hopeful of seeing it in print soon – Robert McLean.

 

Shepparton was once known as the “Solar City” – it’s time to reclaim that title and consolidate our community around it.

The Goulburn Valley has for decades built its prosperity around water and sunshine to create orchards laden with fruit, become a prolific producer of milk and a dynamic dry-land farming area to become known as the food-bowl of Australia.

Conditions are, however, changing and although many of the ingredients may become increasingly difficult to source, sunshine will continue to be as plentiful.

Considering that, the City of Greater Shepparton should again embrace the title of “Solar City”, pursue it with enthusiasm and encourage broad community conversation about the idea.

Energy, where we get it from and how we use, is unquestionably going to be the prime challenge facing all individuals and communities as the remainder of this decade and the next unfold.

The opportunities for Shepparton are boundless for it is laden with a free natural resource, sunshine, and so is wonderfully positioned to become Victoria’s 21^st Century La Trobe Valley.

The City of Melbourne aims to be carbon neutral by 2020 and that will mean sourcing renewable energy; energy that can be provided by our “Solar City” from its purpose built solar farms.

Such a plan, naturally, would mean cheaper energy for all city ratepayers who, after-all would be the foundational stock-holders who would see their cheap energy rates as a return on their investment in the solar farms.

Initially this would mean a significant change in direction for the city with the reshaping of priorities to allow investment in the proposed solar farm network.

Electricity is presently drawn from the La Trobe Valley, via Melbourne, and so existing infrastructure could be employed, in reverse, to take Goulburn Valley energy to the metropolitan area.

Existing power stations in the La Trobe Valley are among the world’s dirtiest and the Goulburn Valley’s solar farms would be among the world’s cleanest power.

Beyond being a profitably and clean investment for city residents, the solar farms would provide the district with a degree of energy independence and so allow it to grow into the future with confidence that its energy needs, at least in the form of electricity, were not further damaging the environment.

With the city playing a leading role in the development of a major part of a state-wide energy chain, Shepparton would be in a powerful position to attract businesses to became ratepayers, employers and so power consumers that would benefit directly from its intimate association with an energy creator and supplier.

It is suggested that to get something you have never had before, you must do something you have never done before - we have never had energy independence before, let’s do something different and achieve that freedom.