Let’s get solar power on the roof!

We are aiming to install 60 solar panels (15kW!) on the roof of Aireys Inlet Primary School (Lorne-Aireys Inlet College), so we can invest what we save on our energy bills into projects which will get our kids excited about living sustainably in their community.

With savings we make on our energy bills, we have plans to embed sustainability in everything our school does. Some of the things on our list include:

01. Redesigning and replanting the vegetable garden (as the apple crates they are in are starting to disintegrate!).
02. Creating a industrial-standard kitchen for the cooking sessions at the school, and employing a chef for the classes.
03. Developing a passive cooling solution for classrooms, by growing a living wall and a rain garden.
04. Constructing a frog pond, to complete the biospheres developed in and around the school.

Help raise $20,500 for a big 15kW solar system – we anticipate saving $3,500 a year, to be invested in our kids for many years to come!

We are fund-raising for up to 15W of solar power priced at $20,500, including GST. 

We will orient the panels to the east and west to smooth out our power production, minimising exports to the grid, and maximising the financial value of our asset. 

We will be using REC Panels, a Fronius Inverter and Sunlock framing system. 

These are tier-1 products with 10-year product warranties. 

Our supplier and Installer will be Green Energy Options, one of the Surf Coast’s most highly regarded solar companies.

Giving to this project is not without risk. The three primary risks, and how we have mitigated them, are as follows:

1) The school ceases to operate
The school has a long history and enjoys strong demand for enrolments. We believe the school will be operating well into the future, beyond the life of the solar panels.

2) The panels malfunction
We use Tier-1 products that are expected to perform reliably – well beyond their warranty period. Our supplier, Green Energy Options, is a Clean Energy Council accredited supplier. If the products were to fail prematurely, we will be able to replace them with costs recovered from the supplier.

3) The panels and lighting upgrades do not provide $3,500 value per year
The energy assessment we have conducted provides a conservative estimate of the value of the panels. We have every confidence this assessment is thorough and accurate. While we understand our energy tariffs may change in the future, the experience of other States around Australia suggests such changes are not likely to adversely affect the value of our panels. In fact we believe that over the course of the next five to ten years the price of electricity will rise and release greater value from the panels. Our Fronius inverter can be configured to accommodate energy storage should it become cost-effective to do so in the future.