Former Federal Liberal leader Dr John Hewson has accepted the role of Board Chairman of Goulburn Community Energy Co-op.
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This group is building the 1.8 MW Goulburn community-owned solar farm on the city's outskirts.
The co-op has been set up by Community Energy for Goulburn (CE4G), a group formed in 2013 to progress community-owned renewable energy projects in the region.
President of CE4G, Ed Suttle, said the Goulburn Solar project aims to produce renewable energy in the region and to offer local people the opportunity to invest in it.
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"This keeps the profits within the community, rather than sending money to big companies that have little connection with this region," Mr Suttle said.
He welcomed Dr Hewson on to the board.
"Dr Hewson is a national figure, but is also well known to the people of Goulburn, having launched the Goulburn Solar Farm Feasibility Study in 2016," he said.
"He was also the keynote speaker at the Goulburn Connects business breakfast back in 2013 when the solar farm was first discussed.
"He has taken a keen interest in the project and is now ready to lend a guiding hand during the construction period and as the co-op progresses with further projects."
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Mr Suttle said Dr Hewson chairing the co-op board would boost investor confidence in the project.
"We are immensely proud of what we have achieved so far, and encouraged by the support of people like Dr Hewson, who has been with us as we navigated various obstacles," he said.
He said Goulburn resident Dr Rowena Cantley-Smith, a high profile barrister and energy law lecturer at UTS, have also joined the board.
The founder and director of the Community Power Agency and the Coalition for Community Energy Nicky Ison has also joined.
"You could not get three bigger people from this sector on this board, like this," he said.
A few weeks ago the co-op also signed an agreement with Komo Energy.
"We have signed an agreement with Komo, who are now our development partners," he said.
"They will build it and finance it and as we raise the money we buy it back from them.
"We are confident. We will need to raise $2.2 million."
"If we fail, Komo has expressed great interest in it, so it is a very nice place to be," Mr Suttle said.
He said the next step was finding out whether they have been successful in obtaining a NSW Government grant under the Regional Community Energy Fund.
"We will find out in six weeks. If we get that grant, we will build the solar farm and it will also have battery backup storage because it is all about having despatchable power," he said.
"Having signed a contract with a construction development partner, we are expecting activity on the site before the end of the year and have high hopes that we will be able to flick the switch in the first half of next year.
"The great thing about that is it takes the risk away from the community, specifically because that company will be happy to own about 25 per cent if we fail to raise all the capital, but I don't think that will be the case."
Dr Hewson has wide experience as an economist for the Reserve Bank and the IMF, and as an adviser to John Howard.
He is an economics professor at Macquarie University and as a successful businessman. He is currently a professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU.
"You guys are at the forefront of building community-owned solar farms; you are leading what could well be a revolution in powering households across the state," said Dr Hewson at the feasibility study launch in Goulburn back in 2016.
He also appears regularly on the ABC, is an opinion writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Guardian.
Dr Hewson is also a sought-after business commentator on the future of stranded assets as global warming impacts on the fossil fuel industry.
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