On Thursday, 29 November, over 100 locals from Yackandandah and the wider Indigo Shire attended the launch of the Yackandandah Community Energy Hub.
The “Hub” describes any customer, with or without solar, who joins the community-owned retailer, Indigo Power. Each customer that joins will essentially buy and/or sell solar energy with each other, with 50% of Indigo Power’s profits going back into the community.
Yackandandah is the first Hub, with other Hubs such as Beechworth, Bright, Wangaratta and others to launch in March 2020. From there, any postcode has the opportunity to become its own Hub, and Indigo Power is even offering each Hub that gets more than 100 members a chance to win $20,000. The winning Hub will be selected randomly when Indigo Power reaches 1000 customers, and the prize will go towards developing local energy infrastructure.
Yackandandah local and Indigo Power manager, Ben McGowan, said, “We set up Indigo Power as a social enterprise, what that means is 50% of our profits are returned to our communities to fund projects that support renewable energy. On top of this, customers will have the option to invest in the company – meaning even more money remains in the community. We’re really excited to see this next practical step in community energy come to life.”
This next step in the community energy journey for NE Victoria comes after years of hard work – starting in Yackandandah and its vision to become 100% renewable by 2022.
Mondo has been proud to be part of Yackandandah’s 100% renewable journey and has continued it’s support to Indigo Power by offering technical advice, as well as incorporating Indigo Power’s data into the Ubi Portal. Indigo Power customers with an Ubi will be able to see the aggregated import/export data for each Hub, allowing towns to track their own renewable energy targets.
Indigo Power will now turn its attention to offers across Victoria and Australia.