Victorian town in bushfire zone adds solar and battery for community sports centre

Hepburn Sports Centre with Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance (One Step off the Grid)

The community sports centre of Hepburn, Victoria, has a solar and battery storage system which will reduce its electricity costs and emissions as well as supporting its role as a last resort community shelter in the case of a bushfire. Electricity power is one of the first supplies to be cut during severe bushfires. 

The Hepburn Recreation Reserve now has a 25kW solar system and a 13.5kWh Tesla Powerwall 2 battery. This system continues to operate when there is a grid outage. This large solar and battery combination will supply power day and night particularly in summer. Alone, the battery will provide power for a day and will be topped up quickly when it is sunny (a little slower if it is smokey or cloudy).

“The $31,818 cost of the solar and storage system was contributed to by the Hepburn Shire Council ($12,000), local community renewables outfit Hepburn Wind ($4,500), and the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance ($15,318) with $12,500 of that amount from a Bank Australia grant and $2,818 from the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy.” 

Read more: Solar and Tesla Powerwall offer Victorian town bushfire resilience. One Step off the Grid, July 24, 2020.