By Alesha Capone
Wyndham council is one of 46 Victorian councils to join the largest ever emissions reduction project spearheaded by local government in Australia.
The Victorian Energy Collaboration (VECO) will see all the councils take out a new electricity contract, which is sourced from only renewable energy sources such as windfarms, for their operations.
Red Energy, which is owned by Snowy Hydro and based in Melbourne, will provide 240 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year to the participating councils.
The 240GWh of clean power is equivalent to powering 48,000 homes with renewables or removing the emissions from 90,000 cars every year.
By pooling their energy contracts, VECO will help the councils to reduce greenhouse emissions by 260,000 tonnes of C02-e (the term for rising levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, including methane, nitrous oxide, and refrigerant gases, brought about as a result of human-led climate change).
The VECO contract will commence in July and will run for 9.5 years.
Led by Darebin City Council in Melbourne’s north and facilitated with the Victorian Greenhouse Alliances, VECO is expected to save the councils up to 35 per cent on their electricity bills.
Wyndham’s climate futures and environment portfolio holder, Cr Robert Szatkowski, said the council had committed to a 95 per cent reduction in its corporate greenhouse emissions by 2040.
“Council recognises that the climate is changing, and that together we must take action,” he said.
“We are committed to showing leadership and taking serious action on climate change.”
