The community is being asked to help fund 200 solar panels for two projects by Community Power Hub Bendigo and the Bendigo Sustainability Group.

The panels for eight local Community Housing (Victoria) units are $300 each and so far 23 of 100 have been funded, the power hub’s Colin Lambie said.

“There is one electricity meter for the whole (housing group’s) site. It’s the community housing organisation that pays the bill,” he said.

“Bill payments are set up in such a way that savings from the project will go to tenants in the form of reductions in rent.

“We get a portion of the savings as we will be monitoring the system, making sure it works, dealing with any warranty issues and tracking how it is performing.”

Meanwhile, 58 panels destined for the Eaglehawk Badminton and Table Tennis Stadium have been funded so far.

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Beattie Financial Services was among the latest to donate to the stadium.

Partner Stacey Burns said her group had been auditing the BSG for a number of years and had seen how much work went into sustainability in Bendigo. The group wanted to support that work with a donation.

“And I’ve been playing badminton for 20 years so when there was a joint venture between the BSG and the badminton group I could not say ‘no’,” Mrs Burns said.

Mr Lambie hoped both projects could be fully funded and installed by the end of September, which would allow those using their new solar panels to reap the benefits through the sunniest time of the year.

“It is, in effect, a way of offsetting carbon emissions. One panel equates to about half a tonne of carbon emissions saved per annum,” he said.

People could donate one panel for $300, though project organisers were also accepting smaller donations.

Mr Lambie encouraged people to give before June 30, because donations were tax deductible.