Peninsula facilities identified for solar hot water

Three community facilities in the Peninsula area have been identified for five projects of 15 in a priority list to replace electric hot water systems with solar panels and heat pumps.

Ettalong's senior citizens' centre was identified as fourth priority on the list, while three Peninsula Leisure Centre systems identified as priorities nine, 10 and 11 and two systems on Patonga Camping Ground were placed at number 15 on the list.

In August last year, Council adopted an emissions reduction target of 20 per cent on 2010 emissions by 2025 as part of its Climate Change Mitigation Strategy.

Implementation of the Strategy is underway with projects designed to reduce Council's emissions through energy efficiency, renewable energy and direct abatement technologies.

Council's water and sewer director Mr Rod Williams reported that one of the better opportunities identified in the strategy was to replace electric hot water systems with solar and heat pump hot water systems.

"The solar hot water opportunity was assessed as having a potential to reduce Council's emissions by 469 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per annum and deliver financial savings through reduced energy costs," stated Mr Williams' report.

Gosford Council has agreed to apply for the maximum amount of funding available from the Local Government Energy Efficiency Program which was announced late last year by the Federal Government.

The grant is for 60 per cent of the capital cost to install solar and heat pump hot water systems on community facilities.

A requirement of the Local Government Energy Efficiency Program is for Council to use local suppliers to undertake the installation works.

The program is a one off, non-competitive grant with all eligible applications to be approved.

Gosford Council identified a total of 22 hot water systems at 16 different sites as appropriate for replacement using this grant.

The maximum grant amount available is $61,000 with a required Council contribution of $40,667.

Mr Williams' report stated that this would allow for the replacement of 13 to 22 hot water systems depending on the actual cost of replacement.

"The hot water systems identified for replacement have been prioritised based on asset age (oldest first) and hot water usage (high usage first) to maximise cost savings to Council.

"The Local Government Energy Efficiency Program provides a cost effective opportunity to replace old fossil fuel powered hot water systems with new low emissions hot water systems.

"The Local Government Energy Efficiency Program is estimated to reduce energy costs by approximately $13,000 per annum.

"The simple payback based on Council's cash, project management and contingency contribution is 4.6 years."

Gosford Council Agenda, WAT.13, 26 Mar 2013