Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), Media Release, 5 October 2023
The Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) are pleased to announce the expansion of their free energy saving program, Energy Southern Queensland (EnergySQ), to the Toowoomba and Western Downs regional council areas.
The program, which commenced in April 2023 and is free for participating farms, has been assisting growers and producers in the Southern Downs and Goondiwindi regional council areas to identify tangible ways that they can achieve increased energy productivity and efficiencies while lowering their emissions on-farm.
The expansion of the program will now give access to farms in all four regional councils areas supported to develop an Energy and Carbon Action Plan specific to their operation.
Producers and growers are invited to participate individually or in a ‘cluster’. Their participation in the project is anticipated to take between two and three months, with ongoing follow-up and support.
QFF CEO Jo Sheppard said that the program has already resulted in positive outcomes for growers and producers, and that the expansion will allow more farmers to access free energy efficiency audits.
“We are really pleased to be able to expand this program to support farmers across the Toowoomba and Western Downs regions to identify ways in which they can become more efficient in their on-farm use of energy to save costs, improve productivity and reduce emissions,” Ms Sheppard said.
“Queensland farmers continue to develop some of the most innovative solutions to achieve efficiencies on-farm so that they can remain competitive in an increasingly competitive operating environment.
“QFF has a great track record when it comes to energy projects and the feedback from farms that have participated in the EnergySQ program to date has been really positive with some significant savings identified.”
QFF have partnered with ACCIONA Energía Australia to enable this program to be delivered to farms in the designated regions at no cost to the producer. ACCIONA Energía are developing the MacIntyre Wind Farm near Warwick.
“We’re proud to be supporting QFF as they extend the program’s coverage to Toowoomba and the Western Downs, to help even more primary producers manage their energy use. Pressures faced by farmers have never been greater and by supporting this program we hope we can assist as they continue to play their vital role across Queensland,” said ACCIONA Energía Managing Director Brett Wickham.
“We encourage farmers within the Toowoomba and Western Downs regional council areas who would like to understand more about this initiative to contact the team at QFF to find out more and register their interest,” Ms Sheppard said.
For more information about the program and to express interest in participating, visit https://www.qff.org.au/energy-sq/
Producers and growers can also contact QFF’s energy team directly via email energysq@qff.org.au or phone 07 3837 4729.
