Solar panel trial for Logan public housing residents to start in 2020

A trial to cut electricity bills for the community’s most vulnerable will be rolled out south of Brisbane early next year with estimated savings for households of up to $250. FIND OUT WHO WILL BE ELIGIBLE

Logan will be part of solar panel trial which will provide discounted power to residents in state housing.

A TRIAL to cut electricity bills for the community’s most vulnerable will be rolled out south of Brisbane early next year.

The Logan suburb of Woodridge will become a test site for a state government plan to give discounted solar power to people living in public housing.

Up to 2000 public housing tenants who are managed through Logan’s Woodridge Housing Service Centre will be eligible for the trial.

LOGAN’S SOLAR PANEL BUDGET

PUBLIC HOUSING FOR LOGAN SENIORS

GREEN THUMBS IN PUBLIC HOUSING

LOGAN LEADS WITH SOLAR

Under the plan, public housing residents will be able to buy solar power at a discounted rate from local energy providers.

The concept is not new to Logan, which has watched from the sidelines as Cairns and Rockhampton installed solar systems to supply public housing prior to 2018.

Those trial sites, where more than 800 panels were installed, found savings of up to $250 a year for household power bills.

Logan has 70 suburbs and is home to 326,615 people, with more than 6 per cent of residents living in social housing.

SUBSCRIBE: $1 A WEEK FOR THE FIRST 8 WEEKS. Min. cost $4

State Development Minister Cameron Dick, who is also the Woodridge MP, called on energy providers to tender for the project.

Mr Dick said once the tender process was completed, families in public housing at Waterford, Coomera, Woodridge, Logan, Algester and Springwood would be able to apply.

He said the scheme would use local tradies and suppliers and bring jobs to the area.

The trial is a partnership between the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works and the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

It is hoped construction of the Logan solar panels trial will start early next year.

Logan houses with solar panels.

Data from the Logan trial will be used to determine if the scheme should be rolled out to other areas.

In June, Logan City Council announced plans to install panels on five of its buildings during this financial year.

There are already panels on 29 council buildings, including an 87 kW system on the Round Mountain Reservoir, and 30 kW on the Browns Plains Recycling Centre and the Slacks Creek Animal Management Centre.

Logan council has installed solar panels on its buildings and plans to install panels on its libraries.

The new plan will result in panels on the Logan West Community Centre, Mt Warren Sports Centre, Logan North Aquatic Centre, Logan West Library and Marsden Library.

Logan has more than 300 days of sunshine a year and the city’s 38,000 individual solar PV systems make up 157 ` of capacity.

The Australian PV Institute lists Logan as having 44,068 solar power installations, making up 38.5 per cent of all dwellings — above the state average of 34.1 per cent.

A 200kW rooftop solar farm has been working on the roof of government-owned buildings in Lockhart River to provide power to remote indigenous communities.