UNDERGROUND POWER OPTIONS FOR FREMANTLE

 

WA Energy Minister Bill Johnston has announced a trial of a new funding model that will allow more Western Australians to access the benefits of underground power.

Western Power’s Network Renewal Underground Program Pilot will be tested in four suburbs where significant capital works projects have been planned to replace and upgrade sections of overhead network.

Local governments invited to participate in the pilot are the Town of Bassendean (Eden Hill), City of Stirling (Scarborough), City of Fremantle (Hilton) and the Town of Victoria Park with the City of Canning (St James).

Under the pilot model, local government authorities are being given the option to contribute additional funds to cover the difference between like-for-like pole replacement and the cost of converting the area to underground power.

Because the poles and wires in the pilot areas are old and due to be replaced, the cost to homes and businesses are expected to be lower than the State Government-led Underground Power Program and other local government-led programs for undergrounding.

POWER FAILURE BLACKS OUT FREMANTLE

 

 

A big power black out in Fremantle and the Western Suburbs was not a great start to the Friday morning. Residents and businesses in North Fremantle, the CBD, Beaconsfield and elsewhere were without power till 11 am.

The Express Cafe at the B Shed Rottnest ferry terminal closed due to lack of power and the J Shed artists were also idle for some time.

Western Power says that 40.000 homes were without power.

Roel Loopers

ONE SMALL STEP CLOSER TO FREMANTLE SOLAR FARM

 

Plans for the South Fremantle Solar Farm by Epuron Projects Pty Ltd are progressing slowly.

This coming Wednesday the FPOL Committee of Fremantle Council will consider the approval of a business plan for four lots on the former landfill site, and moving toward a 25-year lease, at peppercorn rent.

Discussions between Western Power and Epuron have been going well, but the main hurdle will be to get all the environmental and health approvals for the heavily contaminated site.

Any lease between the City of Fremantle and Epuron is dependent on all the EPA approvals, and Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt has made it very clear that unless everything is above board and safe for the community the solar farm won’t proceed.

Options are considered for the City to charge higher than peppercorn rent in the future when Epuron make a significant profit.

This project is still in the early stages and more community consultation will be conducted. There are significant concerns in the South Fremantle community about the health impact on children and adults any disturbance of the toxic soil might have.

Roel Loopers

FREE ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING AT CAPPUCCINO STRIP CARPARK

 

The new electric car free charging points at Fremantle’s Cappuccino Strip car park are now live.

The four 22 kilowatt charging points are compatible with most electric vehicles, with a one hour charge giving between 18-40 kilometres of driving distance depending on the car.

There are also two standard 240 volt charging points, which means all current electric cars can be charged up using the appropriate cables.

The chair of the WA branch of the Australian Electric Vehicles Association Richard Baird said the new charging points would be greatly appreciated by the owners of electric cars.

“Fremantle has always supported electric vehicles and it’s fantastic that they’ve allocated four electric vehicle charging bays for the Cappuccino Strip and all EVs are welcome,” Mr Baird said.

“Around Perth there are probably about 50 or 60 of these charging points but that’s growing all the time, and as more electric vehicles are sold onto the market we’ll see more charging stations go in.

“Most people charge at home overnight but when you’re out and about doing errands these charging points are fantastic.”

While the drivers of electric cars will still have to pay for parking, charging their cars will be free.

The charging stations are just one of the environmentally friendly features of the new Cappuccino Strip car park, which was built using recycled road materials and also features solar lighting, storm water capture and water-wise native plants.

ENJOYING SOLAR POWER WITHOUT SOLAR PANELS

 

I took the info below from Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt’s blog:

Would you like to have access to  locally produced, green, solar energy without having solar panels on your roof?

The RENeW Nexus Participant Trial is entering its first data collection and analysis phase, and are seeking interested parties to join existing participants in the next phase – a peer-to-peer energy trading trial across the City of Fremantle.

This trial will enable participants with renewable energy systems (prosumers) to trade their surplus energy with Fremantle residents who do not own a system (consumers), providing them with a cleaner, more sustainable energy alternative across the network.

As one of the world’s first trials of its kind, participation is an exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of the energy transition.

If you own a private residential property within the City of Fremantle LGA and do not own a renewable energy system, you are invited to express your interest by replying to RENeW Nexus <renew.nexus@curtin.edu.au>

IT IS AL ABOUT POWER IN FREMANTLE

 

The Fremantle Council FPOL Committee on Wednesday had to sign of the best tender for the City of Fremantle’s electricity supplies for the next three years.

The tender requested pricing for three different requirements:

1. Normal electricity supply through the grid (black power not preferred).
2. 100% carbon neutral supply through 100% certified renewable energy (green power, preferred) at an additional cost to the budget of 10% for the total contract.
3. 100% carbon neutral supply through purchasing carbon offsets (preferred).

Only two of the respondents (Synergy and Alinta) offered 100% renewable energy options, but with a high price premium of approximately 36% for Synergy and 49% for Alinta. That is surprising in a time where all around the planet renewable energy projects are cost competitive with fossil fuels, sometimes even cheaper.

This is one of the reasons the Fremantle Council is keen on locally produced renewable energy, because it can be produced more cheaply than what is being offered.

The solar farm proposed by Epuron at South Fremantle has been considered as part of this tender process and the recommended contract provides the City an opportunity to agree to ‘upgrade’ the supply to local renewable energy if the project is completed in the next few years.

FPOL voted to continue to be carbon neutral through offsets, but with the aim to moving to locally produced renewable energy as soon as possible.

INNOVATIVE SOLAR ROAD TRIAL FOR FREMANTLE

 

Railless tram with road sensors

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt and Councillors Ingrid Waltham and Adin Lang with South Fremantle Solar Farm proponents

 

Fremantle is more and more becoming a leader in sustainability! Fremantle Council will from July this year start a trial of solar power collection through panels glued onto the road surface.

Stage One of the One Planet trial will be the panels installed along South Terrace including Market Street all the way to the new Solar Farm which will be constructed on the former South Fremantle tip site.

If the first six months are successful the trial area will be expanded to include Carrington and Hampton roads and South Street and Marine Terrace, with further expansion of the solar collection area likely.

The trial will use new wireless Internet of Everything(IoE) technology similar to the railless tram sensors, but instead of supplying energy the large Fremantle panels will collect it. The collected solar power will feed into the new Solar Farm and will supply part of the city’s energy.

Fremantle has been proudly showing its environmental awareness with its carbon neutral credentials for years and is building on that. The new civic centre at Kings Square will have an eight star green rating and the new Cappuccino Strip carpark that just opened on Thursday has solar lights, run off water collection and charging points for electric cars. The solar panels on road surfaces is another brilliant and innovative way of caring for our planet.

Roel Loopers

AROUND THE WORLD IN AN ELECTRIC CAR

 

Dutchman Wiebke Wakker will soon be crossing from Indonesia to Australia and will hopefully also visit Fremantle on his epic journey.

Wakker, which means awake, has been on the road for 687 days in an electric car, visited 31 countries and has driven 60,000 kilometres without having to fill up at a petrol station.

His Plug Me In project gets him to ask people to allow him to recharge the car batteries and he has been welcomed everywhere. See more on http://www.plugmeinproject.com

The always innovative and change embracing Dutch have a target of 200,000 electric vehicles on the road in the Netherlands by 2020. That’s a whole lot more than the meagre few hundred on Australian roads.

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE NETWORK ON ENERGY AND MATES

 

The monthly Fremantle Network events are always interesting, and for those inclined so, they are also good opportunities to meet new people and network.

This evening Monday July 24 at 6 pm, upstairs at the National Hotel will have two speakers.

FUTURE ENERGY NETWORKS
James Eggleston is undertaking groundbreaking research in the renewable energy sector, working on a pilot project at the WGV development that seeks to enable strata developments Australia wide to the benefits of solar PV and battery storage.

James is a PhD Researcher at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute on an Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) scholarship.

Game changing transition to a more sustainable energy future is happening right here in Fremantle, come along to find out how.

MATES IN CONSTRUCTION
Godfrey Baronie is a Freo local and the CEO of Mates in Construction, a non profit organization that works to reduce the extremely high rate of suicide among construction workers

Incredibly, 190 Australians working in the construction industry take their own lives every year, this means we lose a construction worker every second day to suicide.

Construction workers are six times more likely to die from suicide than an accident at work. For our young workers, the facts are that they are well over two times more likely to take their own lives than other young Australian men.

Godfrey’s joyful manner and lust for life is a shining light for people experiencing dark times.

Bar and kitchen will be open, so stay on for a bit, have dinner and support the National Hotel!

Roel Loopers

31 HOUR POWER BLACK OUT FOR SOUTH FREMANTLE

Hello I am back after not having power since 7 am yesterday, so many parts of Beaconsfield and South Fremantle were in the dark for 31 hours and that is a very costly exercise.

Yesterday Peaches had to close and IGA next to it ran on a generator, but today IGA had to close and Peaches had a generator. No doubt a lot of food will have to be thrown in the bin and of course all the casual staff did not have to come to work, so these kids also suffer financially and I doubt they will get compensation.

It is the fourth time in eight weeks that my street was without power for many hours, two of them were scheduled but the other two weren’t. That is not acceptable!

I am not sure at all that WESTERN POWER(less) is a very good commodity to privatise.

Roel Loopers