Toowoomba pub the Southern Hotel plans new solar panel shades, EV charging stations

Solar car park shades with more than 600 panels and EV charging stations have been planned for a popular Toowoomba pub. See the designs here:

The Southern Hotel has proposed a plan to build hundreds of solar shades and an EV charging station at its car park in Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba.

A popular Toowoomba pub has revealed plans to build more than 600 solar panels as well as electric vehicle charging stations in its car park.

The Southern Hotel has lodged a “minor change” with the Toowoomba Regional Council to create five solar shade structures to cover most of its 172 parks at its Kearneys Spring site on Ruthven Street.

According to the planning report by Precinct Urban Planning, the structures will accommodate 629 solar panels to generate up to 280kW of electricity.

The Southern Hotel has proposed a plan to build hundreds of solar shades and an EV charging station at its car park in Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba.

“The solar panel arrays will have a clearance height of 2.7 metres and an overall height that varies between 4.23 metres and 5.48 metres depending on the width of the array,” the report said.

“An inverter for the solar panels will be installed on the rear western elevation of the hotel.

“The installation of the solar panels does not reduce the amount of on-site parking available for the hotel.”

The pub has also allocated four parking bays to become EV charging stations, which would have a capacity of 194kW.

“The electric vehicle charging spaces will be available to hotel patrons only and in this regard will be ancillary to the hotel use,” DS Energy wrote.

“Given patrons will be able to park in these areas to charge vehicles while visiting the hotel, it is considered the use of existing carparks for this purpose will not adversely affect parking arrangements for the hotel.”

The Southern Hotel has proposed a plan to build hundreds of solar shades and an EV charging station at its car park in Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba.

The energy usage analysis by DS Energy found about 40 per cent (229 MWh annually) of the electricity produced by the panels will be sent back into the grid, with the remainder used by the hotel (382 MWh).

However, if all EV chargers were used during peak periods, all electricity produced by the panels would be consumed on-site.

If the council agrees the new infrastructure is a “minor change”, the application will be code-assessable and not be required to carry out public consultation.

The additions come nearly three years after the Southern launched a major expansion called The Terrace back in 2022, which added a new restaurant and open entertainment space.

Owner and manager Richard Bowly, whose family has owned the pub since 1986, said at the time the expansion was catering to Toowoomba’s rapid growth.