Climate Matters

April ‘26

Lakers Siding Goes Solar

Meeting open to Members

The Facts on EVs

QCAN at Sacred Edge Festival

Talk to Us

QCAN Drives Solar at Lakers Siding

The Bellarine Railway continues to improve the sustainability of its operations; its carbon footprint is shrinking nicely.

The Railway is now the proud owner of a 25kW solar system combined with a 48kWh battery at its Lakers Siding railway shed. With support through the process from QCAN and Geelong Sustainability, Vortex Electrical installed the system.

It is already up and running and is expected to eliminate more than 90% of the shed’s power consumption from the grid. Think of the savings! And the battery with its large 30kW inverter, will provide an additional 40 amps of power. The Railway now has the capacity to operate heavy machinery in the shed without spending upwards of $30,000 to upgrade its grid connection.

Vortex equipment on site

The Bellarine Railway also plans to use its large battery storage capacity to generate ‘export’ revenue; it can participate in the wholesale market through Amber Energy. The battery’s management software allows it to store solar power during the day and export it in the evening peak pricing period. This will deliver renewable power to the grid when the sun doesn’t shine and demand peaks.

Loading panels to the roof

QCAN arranged for a detailed energy audit by Geelong Sustainability’s Community Power Hub that identified opportunities to reduce energy consumption. It also provided a cost/benefit analysis of a range of solar and battery systems. This gave QCAN a sound base to organise quotes from potential suppliers. Vortex Electrical provided the best proposal.

Geelong Sustainability also offered an interest-free loan to help finance the project that we expect will save more than 24 tonnes of CO2. The project demonstrates that community collaboration can deliver a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Steam is old technology, but the Bellarine Railway is bang up to date.

The team at work with the panels…

…and happy ever after with the new battery

Join Us at the Next Committee Meeting

7.00 on May 14 at the Queenscliff Hub on Hesse Street.

The QCAN Committee’s next ordinary monthly meeting will be open to all paid-up Members. You can keep yourself up to date with QCAN’s developments and activities, particularly the solar farm planning, our ongoing efforts to ‘electrify’ Queenscliffe sustainably, and the project to introduce electric vehicles to 3225.

Readers of this newsletter who are not yet members but are interested in coming along, may want to support the team and become members now.

Honest Evidence on EVs

Those thinking about an electric vehicle would do well to peruse this useful document from the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. DCCEEW.

That page on the Department’s website provides the facts on EVs – how far they will go on a single charge, how much cheaper they are to run than petrol cars, and how long batteries actually last. Of course, it also explains how EVs help address climate change, with the facts on how the grid is getting cleaner all the time and how quickly.

Links on the page take you to a ‘search and compare’ tool that compares fuel costs and environmental impacts of the various car brands that take your fancy; calculator tools, lifetime emissions tables, top-performing brands and plenty more.

DCCEEW is a great place for independent facts on EVs.

And while you are at it, have a look at the Electric Vehicle Council’s website showing the full range of vehicles (and prices) available in Australia, from the MG4 and BYD Dolphin up to the Ferrari at (from) $846,888. RACV’s website is another useful place to find out about and compare vehicles. And Rewiring Australia is running an online Q and A session on May 5 at 7.30pm where you can ask anything you like about EVs. Heaps of solid support.

And if you need any encouragement, enjoy this news, fresh from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries: 1 in 7 cars sold in Australia last month (March 2026) was electric. That’s a record 14.6% market share — nearly double the share at this time last year.

QCAN at Sacred Edge

Come and say “Hi” to our QCAN volunteers who will be running a stand at this important Queenscliff arts and diversity festival.

Uniting Church, Hesse Street, 1 - 3 May, 2026 – next weekend.

Bask in the experience and join in the many activities – Art, Music, Storytelling, Movement, with workshops, exhibitions and speakers. Food too, of course - it is a festival, after all.

A celebration of diversity for all.

Don’t Do ‘Daunted’

Many readers are at least partially ‘electrified’. Those who aren’t, are probably thinking about it. But, converting cooking and heating and hot water from gas, adding solar panels and perhaps a battery… It all seems a complex, expensive and daunting prospect.

The good news is that you can now take your inclinations out of the ‘too-hard basket’. Talk to QCAN. Our people have seen and done it all before and are ready to help you through the planning process. And you can spread the cost by converting in stages.

When you are ready to implement the plan, we can suggest approved contractors and trades, so you can be comfortable that you will get a quality, cost-saving result.

Remember too, that the capital cost is reckoned to be reflected in a commensurate increase in the value of your property.

Neil Mathison is leading the QCAN electrification drive towards net zero in the Borough by 2031. So: neil.mathison@queenscliffeclimateaction.org is a great place to start.