Zero Emissions Noosa (ZEN) has been tracking progress towards the goal of zero community emissions for Noosa by 2026. In this series we’ll be focussing on electricity and looking in detail, postcode by postcode, so you can see how your locality is shaping up to the challenge. We start with 4563 which encompasses Cooroy, Lake MacDonald, Tinbeerwah, Cooroy Mountain, Ridgewood, Carter’s Ridge and Black Mountain.
Around one in six people in the Noosa Council area live in postcode 4563, and residents are leading the way with 66 percent of dwellings having installed solar PV, whilst 37 percent of businesses have invested in solar.
Total solar installed is around 12.2MW, which is about 2/3 of the capacity of the Sunshine Coast Council’s solar farm at Valdora. Whilst the uptake is high, it’s estimated that only 1/7 of the solar PV potential on all roof types is being utilised.
The solar on roofs and other renewable generation saves about 15,150 tonnes of CO2 per year that otherwise would have been emitted from coal fired power stations. Around half of the electricity generated from rooftop solar is consumed on premises and the rest is exported to the grid and is used by other locals.
Whilst the number of electricity customers is going up, the overall electricity consumption is going down. Over a 10-year period average residential daily usage is down 22 percent. There’s growing interest in batteries with 25 installations to date.
Rod Ritchie, president of the Cooroy Area Residents Association, is delighted and says, “Cooroy and district is over 40 percent self-sufficient in electricity thanks to a high uptake of rooftop solar and reducing energy use. This is a fantastic result, making us one of the top performing areas in Queensland.”
Details can be found at zeroemissionsnoosa.com.au/4563
Next time we’ll look at postcode 4565 which takes in Boreen Point, Cooroibah, Cootharaba, Noosa North Shore, Ringtail Creek, and Tewantin.
