By Jed Lanyon
Yarra Glen Preschool is reaping the rewards of going solar thanks to a recent solar panel installation by community-based group Yarra Glenergy.
Yarra Glen Preschool vice president Tina Calvi said it was a welcome surprise to see they received a $126 rebate from their first power bill.
“We are excited about it,” she said.
“We’re always interested when we can save some money and put it into the kinder and back into the program.
And when the preschool isn’t in operation, the energy that isn’t being utilised is fed back into the grid.
“We’re looking forward to the ongoing results of this partnership. For us, it’s such a large amount that we’ve saved. We’re a parent run kinder and we rely on a lot of fundraising and enrolment numbers to keep the kinder viable.
“The preschool is such an important part of our Yarra Glen community.”
Yarra Glenergy is funded with proceeds from council’s sale of Yarra Glen’s former Maternal and Child Health building in 2016.
Yarra Glenergy’s Heather Hill said, “It’s great to see this project bear fruit and to see that it’s going to benefit a group in the community.
“The attraction in choosing the kinder is the link to the child health centre. That centre was paid for by Yarra Glen women in the 40s and 50s. They did lamington drives and catered events at the racecourse.
“We really liked that idea of continuity and that some of that money is going back into the families of Yarra Glen.”
For more information about Yarra Glenergy, visit https://www.facebook.com/YarraGlenergy or email yarraglenergy@gmail.com.
