From a community garden to a defibrillator, more than ten different community groups across Glenrowan and Wangaratta will receive funding as part of Glenrowan Solar Farm’s 2023 community-driven benefit sharing program.
Pacific Partnerships’ Managing Director Simon Nicholls said the program received an overwhelming response, with more than $200,000 in funding requests from local community groups for community projects in the program’s first year.
“We were thrilled with the volume of diverse applications received and thank all the organisations who took the time to complete the application process,” Mr Nicholls said.
“It is wonderful to be able to support so much important work in the community, and while we couldn’t fund all the requests, we encourage groups who missed out to re-apply next year,” he said.
“We asked for initiatives that demonstrate a direct local benefit, support the natural environment and climate change, promote health and wellbeing and improve energy literacy. And the local community delivered that and more.
“For example, Glenrowan Preschool’s kinder community garden project met all the criteria and their ‘cultivating futures’ application was a standout. We can’t wait to see this project and all the other successful initiatives come to life in 2024.”
Glenrowan Solar Farm launched its 10-year commitment to the region with their Benefit Sharing Program this year. Applications were assessed by the project’s Community Reference Group (CRG) and those that best met the selection criteria were selected for funding.
Successful projects in the program’s first year of $50,000 include:
- Glenrowan Preschool - Cultivating Futures: The Glenrowan Kinder Community Garden $7,000
- Greta Valley Landcare Group - Building biodiversity and engagement in the Greta Valley $4,200
- Hamilton Park Co-Operative Limited - Hamilton Park (Glenrowan) Playground $6,000
- Wangaratta Landcare and Sustainability - Planning Household Electrification - Planning for an Efficient, Economical, Healthy All-Electric Home $8,000
- Wangaratta Repair Cafe - Test & Tag electrical equipment capability $2,300
- Warby Range Landcare Group Inc. - Ngalan Wala Restoration; Our water restoration project $5,000
- Christopher Robin Pre-School Centre - Enhancing outdoor and environmental education facilities $5,000
- Wangaratta Landcare and Sustainability - Restoring One Mile Creek $728
- Wangaratta Men's Shed - Extension to existing shed area $5,000
- Wangaratta Landcare and Sustainability - Bush Regeneration Three Mile Creek Site $5,000
- Moyhu Recreation Reserve Committee - Breathing life into the creation of community (new defibrillator) $2,000
The Glenrowan Solar Farm is a 130MWdc solar project located 2km south-west of Glenrowan. Testing and commissioning is underway and the solar farm has started supplying renewable electricity to the national electricity network.
Once in full operation, the solar farm is expected to generate enough power for approximately 45,000 Australian homes.
For more information, contact us.