Fair Go for Our Regions: Port Pirie’s solar community to cut bills and boost business

Almost 300 Port Pirie residents will soon be generating power on their rooftops, as part of a bulk-buy solar scheme instigated by the local council.

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Almost 300 Port Pirie residents will soon be generating power on their rooftops, as part of a bulk-buy solar scheme instigated by the local council.

The council looked for the best deal for residents in an effort to help reduce power bills and make it easier to do business in the Iron Triangle town.

About six installers are now busily connecting the new solar panels and battery systems.

Port Pirie director of corporate and community, James Holyman, said locals saved more than $3000 each on a 5kwh solar package through Cool or Cosy, compared with what they would have paid if they organised the system as an individual buyer.

Apart from helping ease the cost of living in town, the scheme, which is still rolling out, aimed to help businesses lower their overheads.

That could lead to more small enterprises setting up in town or existing ones hiring extra staff.

“We were (initially) trying to support some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” Mr Holyman said.

The Nyrstar smelter at Port Pirie. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

“We had one pensioner who had a 2kw system installed, and he’s halved his energy bill.”

Some locals were now exporting power to the grid, meaning they may receive credits.

Port Pirie was an ideal spot to invest in solar, Mr Holyman said, boasting a large number of solar hours.

The next step was to investigate building a series of ‘microgrids’, which could feed excess power into large batteries connected to entire neighbourhoods.

“Adelaide University is looking into that,” Mr Holyman said.

“We had an idea that if we could produce enough surplus power … we could share it across the community, with an aim to try and make us self sufficient for power.”

Mr Holyman said when the council first gauged whether locals might want to be part of a bulk-buy scheme, more than 600 people flagged an interest, and 285 have since signed up.

“I was thinking if we got 100 it would be fantastic, and anything over that would be brilliant.”

They were able to join the scheme using Centrepay if they wished — a system which allows people to pay bills and expenses as regular deductions from their Centrelink payments.

An added benefit was the ability for residents to access analytics showing where they used the most power, and how they could find ways to be more energy efficient.

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