GOULBURN Valley Councils including Greater Shepparton City Council, Strathbogie Shire, Moira Shire and Campaspe Shire have all signed on to VECO, Australia’s largest ever emissions reduction project by local government
These Councils are part of a 46 Victorian Council contingent to sign on to VECO, the Victorian Energy Collaboration, the largest ever emissions reduction project by local government in Australia.
VECO, led by Darebin City Council in Melbourne’s north, will provide 45 per cent of all Victorian Councils’ electricity requirements with 100 per cent renewables, reducing greenhouse emissions by 260,000 tonnes of C02e every year.
Provided by Red Energy, the 240GWh of clean power is equivalent to powering 48,000 homes with renewables or removing the emissions from 90,000 cars every year.
By joining the project, Greater Shepparton City Council will power 51% of its total energy use with 100 per cent renewables, including council buildings, recreation reserves and sporting recreation facilities, streetlights, libraries and a growing number of council fleet cars as we transition to electric vehicles. This equals over 6,300 tonnes of carbon.
Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor Councillor Kim O’Keeffe said, “The Victorian Energy Collaboration supports Greater Shepparton City Council commitment to 2030 zero emission target, after declaring a climate emergency in March 2020.”
Darebin Mayor Councillor Lina Messina said the project was proof of what can be achieved with collaboration.
“This is a collective effort formed by staff and councillors from across the state, for the benefit of our communities,” Cr Messina said.
Red Energy will provide 240 GWh of electricity per year to the 46 councils in the VECO purchasing group over a period of 9.5 years, beginning 1 July 2021.
Owned by Snowy Hydro, Red Energy is a 100 percent Australian owned and operated energy retailer based in Melbourne.
The renewable energy will be provided by two wind farms in Victoria – Dundonnell wind farm near Mortlake, which started exporting power to the grid in March 2020, and Murra Warra II wind farm near Horsham, which commenced construction September 2020 and will be fully operational by June 2022.
