Energy audits cut farm power costs

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Leanne Donaldson is encouraging growers to take advantage of regional field days which highlight ways of cutting on-farm energy costs by up to 70%.

“A series of audits have been conducted over the past two years to identify efficiencies that reduce power usage and associated costs, with some very promising results,” the Minister said.

“The original 2014 Irrigators Energy Savers Project (IESP) was a partnership between the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), Ergon Energy and the Department of Energy and Water Supply.

“The program has since been expanded to target all intensive energy users in the agriculture sector, not just irrigators, known as the Energy Saver Plus program.

“By auditing energy usage on a farm it’s possible to find efficiencies which can lead to lower power bills. Case study farms have identified savings of between 10 and 70%, with most in the 20 to 40% range.

“That represents significant savings for producers.

“Energy efficiency workshops have been held in regional centres from Mareeba to Emerald through to Applethorpe 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 including practical, tailored advice on how to reduce energy consumption through more efficient irrigation, heating and lighting.”

The Minister said a recent field day at the Aspley Nursery in Brisbane focussed on identifying ways to deliver better energy efficiency in nursery production, with more than 40 attendees.

“Growers heard about monitoring and improving energy use with particular emphasis on irrigation, water heating for propagation and lighting,” she said.

“Cotton Australia 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 20 October at Charm City Flowers presented by the Flowers Association of Queensland, Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, Growcom and the Queensland Farmers’ Federation.

For more information about the Energy Savers Program and the workshops visit http://www.qff.org.au/policy-projects/our-projects/energysavers/

The Energy Savers Program is being delivered by Ergon Energy in partnership with the QFF and is funded by the Queensland Government.
 

ENDS

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