QUEANBEYAN Mayor Tim Overall says the City Council will reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 153 tonnes and save $19,000 per year in power costs following the installation of 340 solar panels on Council-owned buildings.

The solar panels have been installed on the RB Smith Community Centre, Bicentennial Hall and The Q and takes the total number of solar panels on Council-owned buildings to about 550 after 200 plus panels were installed on the Queanbeyan Library roof in early 2014.

“Increasing Council’s generation of electricity from renewable energy sources is just one of the actions Council is undertaking to reduce its carbon emissions and complements energy efficiency upgrades that are also being implemented across Council facilities,” Tim said.

“The solar panels are expected to produce up to 140,000kWh of electricity annually, with about 130,000kWh used on site which represents about 30% offset of energy consumption over the three buildings. Council expects that the payback period for the solar panels will be between 5-8 years.

Community members will soon be able to view real-time data on the solar panels energy production via a display a council building and by logging on to sunnyportal.com.