00:18Does the cooperative have any plans to invest in any other solar farms around Orange or the Central West or
00:23are you already?
00:24We're not already. This is it. This has been the project. We're the first energy democracy cooperative to take shape.
00:33So the idea of energy democracy is ultimately to have more cooperatives across Australia.
00:39So that's certainly an option further cooperatives could form and invest in other projects.
00:44And certainly, yeah, if another project comes along, we would very happily give that to our members
00:48and see if people want to invest further in another and take shares in another project.
00:54There's nothing on the books at the moment. We're just focused on getting this one to the finish line.
00:58Being the first and being the first cooperative is the first time energy democracy has done this.
01:03So it's pretty amazing that we're here.
01:06And you're obviously delighted to see the solar farm up and running now.
01:09I guess, what would you say to people in town who don't necessarily like that the solar farms are in
01:14their backyard?
01:15What would you say to them?
01:17Well, this is my backyard as well. I live five minutes up the road.
01:20I'm very excited to see it here because it's nice to drive past it and look at the facility and
01:25say,
01:26well, I own a slice of that. Part of this is mine. Part of this belongs to all of our
01:31members.
01:32And, you know, some members are from local and some members aren't.
01:37But certainly, you know, it's a very personal thing whether you like to see solar panels or not.
01:45Personally, I really like it.
01:47And I really like the idea that we're taking a piece of land which was underproductive now
01:52and making it into a reproductive piece of land, you know, it's drought-proof.
01:56It's going to continue to produce energy for 30-odd years.
02:02I kind of don't know what happens.
02:05And as we've seen, and this is an emerging picture, you know,
02:10sheep and livestock do better under panels.
02:13So whereas this might have been a, you know,
02:16a pretty underutilised paddock on the edge of town up to now,
02:19now it's going to be farming fibre and electrons at the same time.
02:22So it's going to be more productive.
02:23I think it's a great use of a piece of land that doesn't do much else.
02:28So you mentioned sheep, you know, is that a plan for this site,
02:32for animals to be put in here now?
02:34Yep, the co-op is definitely quite interested in that.
02:37Obviously, because construction's only just finished, it's a little bit early.
02:40But yeah, that's definitely something where it talks with some local organisations
02:45that have some stock that can put them here.
02:49So it's actually quite advantageous to do that because the sheep manage,
02:53you'll see over the back there, the green coming up between the rows already.
02:59The grass tends to grow quite well along the drip line at the bottom of the panels
03:03because it collects the dew and that sort of thing.
03:06So having livestock to keep that grass down is actually quite useful
03:10because if you use power tools and things, it throws rocks up
03:14and can potentially damage equipment.
03:16So it's actually much better to run sheep underneath
03:18than have to spend time and effort to blow it.
03:22So, so here we go.
03:23The two of them are so good,
03:23so they don't need to just be out of place here.
03:23We're not sure the two of them are so good and we're not sure.
03:23We're not sure.
03:24So here's the one in the affinity for the flatland.
03:24The three of them are so good.
03:25The one that I'm trying to introduce to you,
03:26You can use the strip like a little bit of a large block.
03:26So well, thank you Lucky.
Comments