Haystacks Solar Garden members who purchased a solar garden plot have now voted an overwhelimg ‘yes’ to loaning $730,800 to Grong Grong Solar Farm – hosts of the Haystacks Solar Garden – to help construct the much anticipated 1.5MW solar array.

The project has been three years in the making to get to this point navigating a pandemic, two energy price crises and innovating every step of the way in the Australian energy system to create something that has never been done before in our nation.

Haystacks Solar Garden will be Australia’s first large scale Solar Garden and hopefully pave the way for many more solar gardens to finally allow those who are locked out of owning rooftop solar to share in the benefits too.

Fencing has started this week at the Grong Grong site. It was initially launched in 2020 with memberships for NSW residents, but recently expanded to residents from Victoria, ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and southeast Queensland.

Anyone eligible for an account with electricity retailer Energy Locals can purchase a “plot” in the Haystacks Solar Garden. In return, “gardeners” will receive an estimated $505 credit on their electricity bill each year for 10 years.

“We’re going to make solar available for up to 30 per cent of Australians who are locked out of rooftop solar,” said Kristy Walters, director of Community Power Agency and chair of Haystacks Solar Garden Co-operative.

“This is a good solution for renters, apartment dwellers and people who can’t put solar on their roof for whatever reason.”

Unlike electing to pay a provider for clean energy, the project allows participants to take an active role in Australia’s drive to reduce carbon emissions.

“With this project, people can actually say they’re helping to build more renewable energy,” explained Ms Walters.

With the Haystack Solar Garden, the 1.5MW solar farm wouldn’t happen without solar gardeners purchasing plots to help fund it.

“It’s an exciting project to be part of, creating the first of its kind in Australia. This model is popular in Europe and the US, but it’s the first time it’s been brought to Australia at this scale.”

The Haystacks Solar Garden is in the process of signing up 333 solar gardeners for each of the project’s plots, who will all be members of the Haystacks co-op. Once their one-off payments of $4200 have been collected, construction of the solar farm in the Riverina will begin.

The project will build a 1.5MW solar array in a five-hectare paddock at a farming property in Grong Grong, 68km northwest of Wagga Wagga.

“We expect to start construction in the summer [of 2022-2023] and have the solar farm generating electricity by mid-next year,” said Ms Walters.

“As soon as it’s generating electricity, the solar gardeners will start seeing returns on their electricity bills.”

Haystacks Solar Garden is being built by Community Power Agency, Pingala Co-op and Komo Energy – with support from other organisations – and is funded by the NSW Government’s Regional Community Energy Fund.

Ms Walters said government support had been crucial for the project, particularly in the development phase.

“In this sector once a project is ready for investment there’s no shortage of community investors,” she said.

“But getting to that point is often quite hard, especially for small volunteer-led community organisations.”

“Now is a crucial time for Australians to increase energy independence and resilience. Everybody knows we need to transition to renewables – we have this amazing opportunity,” she said.

“We could go from large, centralised, often foreign-owned coalfired power stations to really large solar farms potentially owned by overseas investors. Or we could invest in decentralised, small-scale community-owned electricity generation like we are doing with the Haystacks Solar Garden.

“All signs indicate the Federal Government is onboard, too. Its ‘Powering Australia’ plan includes a commitment to co-invest $100 million in 85 community-owned “solar banks”. Labor says the initiative could allow more than 25,000 households to share in the benefits of solar power.

“There’s an opportunity for people to say, ‘I’m paying money for my electricity anyway, how about if I paid that into a community-owned entity, or my community gets together and we start our own solar farm or wind farm?’” Ms Walters said.

“Communities around the country are interested in how they can gain control of their energy future.”

The Haystacks Solar Garden will enable people without a sunny roof access to the many benefits of rooftop solar. Whether they rent, live in an apartment or have an unsuitable roof for solar, this solar garden will unlock the sunny benefits for all.

Grong Grong farmer Gemma Mieier also shares the passion of making renewables accessible for everyone and enabling communities more control over their energy future.

She said the idea for Haystacks Solar Garden was conceived and in February 2020 was successful in obtaining a grant from the NSW Government’s Regional Community Energy Fund to help make it happen. 

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 15 June 2023.