September 29, 2016
Most farms could shave 20 to 40 per cent off their power bills if they undertook an energy audit, Agriculture Minister Leanne Donaldson says.
She is encouraging growers to take advantage of regional field days which highlight ways of cutting on-farm energy costs.
“A series of audits have been conducted over the past two years to identify efficiencies that reduce power usage, with some very promising results,” the Minister said.
The audits came from a project that began in 2014 to find ways to reduce energy costs for irrigators.
The project was a partnership between the Department of Agriculture, the Queensland Farmers’ Federation, Ergon Energy and the Department of Energy and Water Supply.
It has since been expanded to target all intensive energy users in the agriculture sector, not just irrigators, and is now known as the Energy Saver Plus program.
The Minister said by auditing energy usage on a farm it was possible to find efficiencies that could lead to lower power bills.
Case study farms have identified savings of between 10 and 70 per cent, with most in the 20 to 40 percent range.
“That represents significant savings for producers,” Ms Donaldson said.
“Energy efficiency workshops have been held in regional centres to help make growers more aware of the program and its potential benefits.
“I’m very pleased that industry groups are now taking the information gleaned from on-farm audits, and developing packages for their members.”
The Minister said a recent field day at the Aspley Nursery in Brisbane focussed on identifying ways to deliver better energy efficiency for 40 nursery producers.
She said Cotton Australia had also held a successful workshop in Cecil Plains which looked at solar pumping and energy efficiency for irrigators.
The next event will be in Bundaberg on October 20 at Charm City Flowers.
It will be presented by the Flowers Association of Queensland, Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, Growcom and the Queensland Farmers’ Federation.
More information about the Energy Savers Program and workshops can be found online
