Emerald Primary School
By Tania Martin
A DREAM of creating the first hills sun centre has become a reality with the help of a local primary school.
Emerald Primary School has joined forces with Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association to create this historic program to help tackle global warming.
In an Australian first, 18 solar panels have been installed on the primary school’s roof to help form a community sun centre.
La Trobe MP Jason Wood unveiled the project last Monday and said that it was paving the way to tackle environmental issues.
Visionary and Menzies Creek environmentalist Peter Cook first came up with the idea nine months ago.
The idea for the centre first gained support following several public meetings in August last year.
At the time, Mr Cook told the Mail about his desire to make solar power available to anyone who wanted to do something about global warming.
He said that not all private houses were suitable for solar panels because trees shade a lot of houses in the hills.
However, Mr Cook believed there was a solution.
All it would take was finding a community or council building where solar panels could be purchased by local residents and placed on the roof.
Mr Cook said the power generated from the panels would then be transferred to the power gird and people involved in the scheme would be able to get a rebate.
He said the idea came from a documentary on villages in Germany that were getting behind small community-based renewable power plants.
After two public meetings, it became apparent that many hills people shared Mr Cook’s passion.
It was then that the Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association was born, which soon also spurned the idea of partnering with Emerald Primary School.
In an Australian first, the school worked along side the association to get the first hills sun centre up and running.
Since then 18 solar panels have been installed on the roof of the school, nine of which have been funded by community members.
The other nine were purchased by the school with the help of state and federal funding of $22, 000 plus $24,000 from fundraising. School principal Mark Carver said the project set a great example for the students on the importance of helping the environment.
“The solar panels show our students that everyone can do their bit for the environment,” he said.
Mr Cook last week said that the popularity of the project had proven how concerned people were about global warming.
He said it was the first of many solar panel projects for the Dandenongs.
