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9.5 year contract signed.
Council's buildings and facilities have been powered by 100% renewable electricity since the 1st July 2021.
We achieved this by partnering with over 50 other LGAs to form the Victorian Electricity Collaboration (VECO), which negotiated a 9.5 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Red Energy.
The renewable electricity is being generated by two large wind farms in western Victoria - Dundonnell Wind Farm near Mortlake, and Murra Warra II Wind Farm near Horsham. Owned by Snowy Hydro, Red Energy is a 100% Australian-owned and operated energy retailer.
The PPA currently applies to all buildings and facilities for which Council pays the electricity invoices. Leased buildings for which third parties pay the electricity bills are currently not included in the PPA. However, we are currently in the process of encouraging tenants of our buildings to either join our PPA, or alternatively switch to another 100% renewable energy provider (e.g. Indigo Power).
Leased buildings account for an estimated 7% of our total emissions (as Scope 3, downstream).
In 2021/22, Council's first year under the VECO PPA, we reduced our annual emissions to 16 tonnes of CO2-e compared to 737 tonnes in the previous financial year. In 2022/23, emissions from electricity consumption reduced even further to 3 tonnes of CO2-e.
Refer to Section 4.2 of the VECO Implementation Deed signed by Council in June 2021.
Council switched its electricity accounts from fossil fuel to 100% renewable energy, via two wind farms in Western Victoria.
$0.24 per kWh average across all facilities (FY 22/23)
Reduced costs through energy efficiency projects.
Refer to section 4.1 of Council's VECO Implementation Deed signed by Council in June 2021.