TWO YEARS OF SOLAR FARM OPERATIONS MARKED BY COMMITMENT TO NET ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2030

Labor Councillors have marked two years of operations of the City of Newcastle's five-megawatt solar farm with a commitment to achieving net zero emissions for all of Council's operations by 2030.

The City's solar farm covers an area of around 5 football fields on top of a capped landfill site at Summerhill Waste Management Centre.

The project is on track to save ratepayers around $9 million, after costs, over its 25-year lifespan, and ensures City of Newcastle is meeting 100 per cent of its power supply through renewable energy sources, in conjunction with a power purchase contract with a windfarm in the New England.

Local governments across the country are leading on emissions reduction. If all the current goals set by local governments were met, Australia would be 96 per cent of the way to meeting its target of 28 per cent reduction by 2030.

Labor Councillors have also committed to ensuring the rollout of more rooftop solar systems at key City of Newcastle facilities including at Fort Scratchley, Summerhill Waste Management Centre and the Civic Theatre, and increasing the uptake of electric vehicles within the City’s fleet.

Marking the two-year anniversary of the solar farms operations, Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said a re-elected Labor-majority Council is committed to continuing its decisive action to ensure that City of Newcastle will reach net zero emissions for its operations by no later than 2030, and set interim targets to ensure net zero community emissions by 2040.

"Under the leadership of my team, City of Newcastle is nation-leading when it comes to real action to reduce emissions at the local government level, constructing our own solar farm and becoming one of the first councils in the nation to move to 100% renewable electricity supply for all our City's operations,” said the Lord Mayor.

"Our five-megawatt solar farm at Summerhill Waste Management Centre, with 14,500 photovoltaic cells, produces enough clean, renewable energy to power the equivalent of around 1300 Newcastle households annually, and is saving ratepayers millions over its lifespan."

"But while we're proud of the action we've taken so far to drive down the city's operational emissions, we know that more action is required to meet our ambitious target of net zero emissions for City of Newcastle's operations by 2030."

"To achieve this goal we will ensure best practice energy and water efficiency, significant reduction of emissions through the City's supply chains, continue with 100% renewable energy supply, provide 100% of the City's lighting through LED or best practice equivalent by 2025 and importantly, we will pursue zero emissions transport across our operational fleet vehicles, with a commitment to halving our current level of liquid fuel use by 2025."

Newcastle Labor campaign spokesperson Deputy Lord Mayor Declan Clausen said that the success of the City's solar farm is a credit to progressive Councillors who voted to approve the project, while John Church and the Newcastle Independents Party voted against the initiative.

"Our solar farm is an incredible investment which not only saves our ratepayers money, but is a key initiative in reducing our City's emissions."

"John Church and the Newcastle Independents Party voted against the construction of our City's solar farm, despite knowing of its significant contribution to driving down emissions, and the financial benefits it is already bringing our ratepayers."

"As we celebrate two-years of operations for the Summerhill Solar Farm, we're proud to be making this firm commitment to go even further to reduce our net emissions to zero by 2030."

"We now have more than 800 kilowatts of photovoltaic systems installed across 16 key council sites including the City, Wallsend and New Lambton libraries, No.1 and No.2 Sportsgrounds, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle Museum, the City Administration Centre at 12 Stewart Avenue, the Visitor Information Centre and the Works Depot, and today we commit to delivering even more rooftop solar at Fort Scratchley, Summerhill Waste Management Centre and the Civic Theatre," said the Deputy Lord Mayor.

Under the leadership of Labor Councillors, City of Newcastle recognises that there is a climate emergency, and has formally committed to the principles and targets of the Paris Climate Agreement, and is prepared to do more to prevent dangerous climate change.

City of Newcastle is a member of a number of committees and programs formed to prioritise climate change action. Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes Chairs the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, and City of Newcastle is a founding member of ICLEI, a founding member of the Business Renewables Centre, a member of the Cities Power Partnership, a Pioneer City for ICLEI’s CitiesWithNature program and recently joined the international Cities Race to Zero and Cities Race to Resilience Campaigns in the lead up to COP26.