Glamorgan Spring Bay

Is a Power Partner

30kW

on council roofs

120

solar panels on admin building

One of the core values of Glamorgan Spring Bay Council is to ‘Take the initiative and be creative, to seek new ways and new solutions’. We are proud to be partners in the first round of the Cities Power Partnership with the Climate Council and to be actively participating in moving our community towards a more efficient and resilient future and sharing knowledge and solutions with other councils and communities across the nation.

Mayor Robert Young

Council has chosen the following pledges

Provide incentives and/or remove barriers to encourage local businesses to take up solar power and battery storage.

Adopt best practice energy efficiency measures across all council buildings and support community facilities to adopt these measures.

Develop education and behaviour-change programs to support local residents and businesses to tackle climate change through clean energy, energy efficiency and sustainable transport.

Roll out energy efficient lighting across the municipality.

Support the local community to develop capacity and skills to tackle climate change.

Glamorgan Spring Bay

What Council has achieved in the past in energy efficiency, renewable energy or broader sustainability

In 2014 Glamorgan Spring Bay Council’s Admin building was fitted with 120 photovoltaic panels with a combined peak output of 30kW. All lighting in council buildings including community buildings, works depots, health centres etc. is progressively being replaced with LED technology. There is a Home Energy Audit Toolkit (HEAT) available for residents to borrow free of charge to measure the energy efficiency of specific home appliances. The elder care units in one of our towns have had their inefficient electric hot water units replaced with heat pump hot water heaters. Council has participated in projects such as the Smarter Fleets program and has given in principle agreement and support for an ‘Electric Highway’ proposal for Tasmania and for a fast charging station to be sited within the municipality. Council has participated in the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority’s Regional Climate Change Initiative since 2011.

What council hopes to achieve in the future in energy efficiency, renewable energy or broader sustainability

Council hopes to achieve improvements in energy efficiency and emissions reductions both within its own operations as well as in the wider community. Council is particularly interested in pursuing opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of street lighting. Council is also hoping to gain knowledge and insight from other councils and climate experts and to inspire and encourage local residents and businesses to consider renewable energy.

Why council joined the cities power partnerships

As a regional council in Tasmania with a small rate payer base, Glamorgan Spring Bay has limited resources. However council has been able to achieve considerable progress and understanding of complex issues by participating in regional and national projects and partnering with organisations with similar objectives. Glamorgan Spring Bay Council is also keen to lead and to share knowledge and insight whenever appropriate. The Cities Power Partnership provides a powerful and timely opportunity for council to play its part in implementing emissions reductions measures and climate change action.