5.2 LOCAL TRENDS – WHAT IS OCCURRING IN MIDCOAST?

MidCoast Local Government Area is in the upper middle of LGAs in terms of the uptake of solar hot water and solar PV systems. According to data sourced from the Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI), MidCoast LGA has:

• 13,417 PV installations, a 32.6% penetration rate, as at May 2021, with over 71.2 MW of installed capacity. (Refer to the APVI map with MidCoast Council LGA details highlighted below.) • 3 installations over 100 kW (including MidCoast Council’s 160 kW array at its new Yalawanyi

Ganya building at Biripi Way), 772 installations over 10 kW and less than 100 kW, and 14,337 installations of less than 10 kW.

FIGURE 15: SOLAR PV UPTAKE ON THE MIDCOAST16

In addition, the community group, Energise Gloucester, was successful in an application to the NSW Government for grant funding to develop and operate a community-owned solar farm. The solar farm will be approximately 500kW capacity utilising about 2,000 solar PV panels on suitable land leased from owners within the Gloucester region17 .

16 https://pv-map.apvi.org.au/ 17 https://www.energisegloucester.org/projects/community-solar-farm-project