Nine tenants of Shire buildings are starting the year off powered by the sun with brand new solar panels on their roofs. The panels were installed by the Shire in November last year through the ‘Solar for Tenants’ program.
Eligible tenants of Shire-owned buildings were given the opportunity to opt-in to the program. The program works by seeking tenant repayments for the Shire-funded system based on a portion of their energy bill savings. The premise being that tenants are saving more each year than they are paying back, resulting in net savings from day one. Once the system cost is recovered, interest free, repayments will end, and the tenant will get 100 per cent of the financial benefit from the solar.
In total, the participants, which include sailing clubs, kindergartens, bowls clubs and retailers, will enjoy estimated bill reductions of approximately $30,000 per year. Of course, the benefits to the environment are well-known too, reducing carbon emissions by 172 tonnes annually.
