On a patch of earth 'big as a Bunnings car park', renters get to muscle in on the solar boom
www.abc.net.au
A five-hour drive from Sydney, a community garden of sorts has sprouted. But instead of sharing tomatoes or lettuce, "gardeners" harvest solar energy. And it's already a hit with people otherwise excluded from the rooftop solar boom.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8872514

The ‘solar gardeners’, who mostly live in cities hours away, are getting returns of $505, possibly higher, locked in for the next decade, depending on the electricity market

The returns are credited directly to their electricity bills.

  • maculata
    7·
    2 months ago

    That place name has got to be one of the most aesthetically displeasing ones I’ve ever heard.

    I mean, that’s a sound effect, not a name.

    • abhibeckert@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 months ago

      The name means “very bad camping ground” in the local Wiradjuri language. I don’t speak the language, but from what little I know of first nations languages I’m guessing a singular “grong” would be “bad camping ground” and duplicating it as “grong grong” makes it “very bad”.

      So yeah, intentionally displeasing. It has reliable water where two creeks join and become one larger creek, which meant it was a place you could camp if you were on your way to somewhere else and needed to stop, but otherwise it’s not somewhere you wanted to be.

      White people established a town there because it was a good place to access water for steam trains - which needed to stop every 10 to 50km to fill up their water tanks.

  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    2 months ago

    Just to clarify the dollar figures as I was a bit confused just reading the post text:

    Each ‘plot’ cost $4,200, which buys approximately three kilowatts of solar panels

    will get at least $455 off their power bills for the next decade, with $505 a year for the first five years locked in.

    • UnfortunateDoorHinge
      2·
      2 months ago

      So a non refundable return of over 10% with an expected break even at year 10. Hmm, that’s not a good investment. Also I adds no value to your property.

      I’m gonna call it, the farmer put up $100k in solar and sold it for $200k with a dividend plan for what it produces.