UPDATE:
Mid Mtns Neighbourhood Centre solar installed!
We’re excited to announce that our crowd-funding campaign, combined with a generous grant from Powershop, was successful. The Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre now have solar on their roof.
Sunny photo of manager Mick Barrett at Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre
After a successful first crowd-funding project to install solar at Winmalee Neighbourhood Centre, we set about raising money from the community for a second charitable solar system, this time to benefit the Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre (MMNC). MMNC does a huge amount of fantastic community-benefit work, including the Blue Mountains Palliative Support Service, low-income household support programs, emergency relief and hosting and supporting a range of community organisations. BMRenew even meets there every month! So, we were excited about reducing the electricity bills right across the community centre with an even bigger system than we installed in Winmalee.
At the outset, we aimed to raise $8000-9000 and ideally install an 8kW system. However, part-way through raising funds – including an extremely generous $1000 from one of our first donors – we were approached by Powershop with an opportunity to amplify our impact. With your help, and Powershop’s generous grant of $10,000, we are now looking at a 10kw+ system with a budget of over $12,000! Any additional funds not used for the system will go towards our next solar donation project.
BMRenew successfully completed the first-ever crowd-funded renewables project in the mountains in December 2015 with a 4.5kW system installed on the roof of Winmalee Neighbourhood Centre. They will now save about $900 every year to go towards projects that directly benefit the local community.
Now we’re back with an even bigger project to power Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre with clean energy from the sun. This time we predict that we’ll be able to cut $1200 off MMNC’s electricity bills every year. With your help, we can see more solar on our community buildings here in the Blue Mountains, cut electricity bills, and help a local non-profit organisation who provide vital services to the local community.
This is another step towards our vision of a Blue Mountains region fully powered by renewable energy, where all residents can be involved in their local energy system, with the benefit of affordability, energy security and a healthy environment.
This is a great opportunity for locals to be part of the neighbourhood centre’s important work that builds on the fairness and resilience we all appreciate in the mountains.
Notes:
- Contributions are not tax deductible.
- We will make an announcement as soon as practicable once we have met our fundraising goal, but any excess funds will be used for further community solar – either in the form of a larger system at Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre or a subsequent project at another community organisation.