Lismore City Council has announced that the Clyde Campbell solar carpark is now officially open and ready to provide some much-needed shade for those shopping in the CBD this summer.
Lismore City Council’s Interim General Manager, John Walker, said the completion of the solar carpark is a step in the right direction for Council.
‘This project demonstrates Council’s forward-thinking approach to building a more sustainable future. The addition of an EV charging station along with more shaded parking in the CBD will be a great asset to the city,’ he said.
The project features a roof structure with a 99.9kW solar PV system that will provide shade to 32 public carparks, two accessible carparks, four motorcycle parks and two electric vehicle charging spaces.
The electric vehicle charging stations were commissioned by the contractor on Friday morning, 23 December.
Charging will cost 40 cents per kilowatt-hour and use the Chargefox system for payment. For more information on the Chargefox system go to www.chargefox.com.
The solar carpark project was funded through a $1 million grant provided by the Federal Government’s Drought Communities Program to 52 NSW councils to complete infrastructure and other drought-relief projects. $650,000 of this grant was allocated to the solar carpark.
Only two EV charging stations, dear oh dear.
Bravo LCC ! – For the motor-cycle parking places particularly, as they often have to take up full car-spaces, as there is often no-where else to park. There is increasing use of EV motorcycle and scooters and this shows our new Council is ‘right on the ball’ and doing something useful, rather than painting crossings and local features with rainbow colours and installing useless/expensive ceramic pavements, etc.
Perhaps more shady roofs for more vehicles could soon be in the offing for other important off-street Lismore CBD parking areas?
I do hope so.
This raises a few reg flags…
Why would you spend $ 1million to build an electrical generator facility in a location that has had 3 major floods in 5 years..with the 2022 February flood wiping out the Lismore CBD?
Then further into the article..quote..”The project features a roof structure with a 99.9kW solar PV system that will provide shade to 32 public carparks, two accessible carparks, four motorcycle parks and two electric vehicle charging spaces.”
What were they thinking….
Have Lismore Council not learned?
Then just another issue to raise…
Would all vehicles using this facility would have to pay the necessary parking fees including the EV’s as well? or are these EV’s exempt from parking fees because they are paying for “charging”..which is to a 3rd party provider and has nothing to do with Lismore Council..which could mean the EV owners could be short changing the lismore Council out of parking fees.
Really..this clusterfk is straight from the Lismore Council’s PR Departments of “You can’t make this shite up!”
I think you may be generally right over flooding dangers with solar panel arrays in flooding areas.
Assuming this new development’s roof does go under in future major floods, there are approved procedures to shut down safely.
But some of the cheaper discount systems are ‘live’ even when closed down, after and during floods there is always an electrocution risk for emergency services/nearby rescuers, especially with badly maintained systems.
There were always considerable danger/risks associated with this “Green” power-source that most people have failed to appreciate in the mad rush to save money and ‘The Environment’ [that some enthusiastic installers often fail to tell their clients.]
Insurance companies are now upping $ premiums on solar arrays on insured buildings due to increased fire risks over those without. So not declaring that such a system has been installed could badly affect % pay-outs to the claimant.
Peter a few points: LCC is well aware of the flood risks here and this expensive system was especially designed to cope with it.
Also parking here is free; but there is a small charging fee for EVs.
Let us agree to disagree on this.
The ABC programs “Utopia and the Hollowmen” come to mind when I think about the Federal government spending $1 million on solar project for two EV recharging stations that is located in an area that has had 3 devastating floods in the last 5 years and what is really ironic the funding was under the “Federal Droughts Communities Programme”.
No Peter, we disagree fundamentally on published facts.
I counter your swingeing criticism of this innovative new development in the Lismore’s CBD’s ‘Clyde Campbell’ off-street parking area, as I view it as a positive signal of the current proactive resurgence of my City after the 2002 catastrophe and our Community’s continuance to live with ever-present CBD flooding.
Your view seems to be purely antagonistic/negative – along the lines of (quote):’You can’t make this shite up!” and referencing the cynical ABC’s capital-city political comedies.
You have made several errors of fact in your posts so far (EG: over EVs & fees) and shown complete ignorance of major flooding precautions inherent in this design.
So, referencing Council’s Facebook page with the published tech data on this interesting project would provide you with some interesting extra info.