Bendigo council greenhouse gas target likely out of reach for 2020

The council had hoped the deal - which would be the largest green energy agreement that more than 40 councils have ever entered into - would start this year.

But delays have set plans back just when the Bendigo's council is grappling with a carbon footprint that has doubled because of the Gurri Wanyarra indoor pool.

The council's carbon emissions nearly doubled last year to 17,942 tonnes, despite a target set early last decade to drive them down to 4942 tonnes in 2020.

Bendigo council staff had hoped a new deal, being led by the City of Darebin, would help it reach its 2020 target.

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As late as December, the council still hoped for an announcement about whether the deal would go ahead on time.

It used an environmental report released that month to suggest an announcement was possible by March. If that had happened, it would have been inked just as councils were hit by the coronavirus crisis.

But doubts the deal would stay on schedule predate that period, according to an energy report considered last week by another local council, the Loddon Shire.

That council is also part of the energy bid.

"By late last year it was becoming apparent that the ... project would not meet the original timeline for the project (sic) to allow the supply of electricity to the consortium of councils beginning July 2020," Loddon Shire officers told their councillors.

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By February, Darebin was telling fellow councils to make alternate plans for 2020 because of delays.

It decided to hold off because of the number of councils wanting to get involved and to make adjustments around how the deal would work.

The Bendigo Advertiser is not suggesting that Bendigo Council misled anyone about the deal in its December report, only that it had hoped for one in 2020.

Nevertheless, the council believed then - as it does now - that the deal would allow it to move to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Darebin's council continues to lead the project and wants it up and running by July 2021, mayor Susan Rennie said on Thursday.

"While there have been some delays in the last six months, this is not unusual for such a large and complex project," she said.

"Councils who have been participating account for approximately 45 per cent of all Victorian council electricity ... The size and scale of the project has not been attempted at a council level before."

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Bendigo council's coordinator of innovation and transformation Glenn Pomeroy said the delays are unfortunate but will allow due diligence on the major project.

"We will still get there using this approach. It just might be a little late," he said.

"Over the past 11 years we have done a lot to try and keep the (carbon emission) curve flat. This would have been a big intervention and we are still very keen to pursue it."

Mr Pomeroy hopes the new deal will help reduce Bendigo council's electricity bills, though a contract price is yet to be negotiated.

"We anticipate, through the project's business case, that it could be cheaper than what we are currently paying for our current energy contracts," he said.

"Anyone looking at energy prices is obviously looking at getting it cheaper. We are no different, obviously."

In the meantime, the council is trying to reduce its energy footprint.

That includes a "detailed investigation" into energy use at Gurri Wanyarra, Mr Pomeroy said.

"That's something we would do with any new building once they are operational," Mr Pomeroy said.

"It's one thing to do modelling before opening and another to understand how a building works once it is open."

The pool has been closed since late March as a precaution against coronavirus transmission.

It remains unclear how long it will be closed and how much carbon dioxide has been saved from the atmosphere, though it was operating throughout the first eight months of the financial year.

Mr Pomeroy said it was not just the council looking at reducing carbon footprints.

Its emissions only make up about three per cent of those created by Bendigo every year.

It expects a series of partnerships with other local organisations to result in a range of projects this year and next, Mr Pomeroy said.

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