Image: Reinis Traidas
Next stop in Melbourne’s iconic tram service, a $150 million solar plant.
The city’s hallmark transport service is set to be powered by a large scale solar plant to be built in regional Victoria, as the state government will run a tender to help build 75MW of new large scale solar farms.
It’s a major step in the Victorian government’s plan to meet its target of net-zero emissions by 2050. The City of Melbourne has an even more ambitious plan to become carbon emissions free by 2020, as part of the Carbon Neutral Program through the federal Department of the Environment and Energy.
According to the state government, it will ‘voluntarily’ surrender renewable energy certificates matching the amount of electricity used by all of Melbourne’s trams.
This will result in a reduction of more than 80,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
An open tender will be run in the first half of 2017 to build Victoria’s first large scale solar farms by the end of 2018.
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said the government will use its “purchasing power” as a large energy consumer to boost investment in renewables and create new jobs for Victorians.
“We’re positioning Victoria as a leader in climate change, by reducing emissions and adapting to the impacts,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan said “we’ve got the biggest tram network in the world and we’re powering it with renewables and creating local jobs.”
