About SolarShare
SolarShare’s vision is for people to share a connection with their energy supply, their investment, their community and the environment through ownership and participation in local renewable energy generation. We’re a community-owned company based in Canberra, ACT.
Our mission is to reduce carbon emissions and encourage community-owned solar generators.
We’re proud to be part of the ACT’s shift to a renewable energy economy, where community members can play an important part in our energy choices.
We're greening the grid
Our flagship development is the Majura Community Energy Project – a 1.2MW solar farm located in the Majura Valley, ACT. The solar farm was commissioned in March 2021 and now generates enough electricity to power 260 ACT homes each year.
We raised $2.54 million from local investors to bring our solar farm project to fruition. The solar farm is co-owned by members of the nearby community, which allows them to have a closer relationship with local energy, the environment, and the community while choosing a sustainable investment with an ongoing financial return.
Through this project, ACT residents pooled their resources to fund a large-scale solar farm, achieving economies of scale with the benefits of direct ownership. The project contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions and has been a pioneering example of how community-owned solar generators can work.
We connect our community to our energy and climate
Our philosophy is for people to participate in local renewable energy generation, by fostering a connection between their investment, the community and the environment.
In Australia, we share a strong connection with the land and climate. We love to enjoy warm summer days at the beach, explore our beautiful national parks, and grow our own vegetables.
However, we also face the risk of losing national icons like the Great Barrier Reef, as well as experiencing changing drought and flood cycles that can disrupt both farms and cities. Additionally, a hotter climate leads to more devastating bush fires.
Despite being connected to climate, we tend to be disconnected from our energy production and rarely consider the implications of how it is mined, transported, burnt and transmitted. As long as there is energy reaching our power points, we tend to overlook the rest of the system and its impacts.
Community energy aims to involve society more in choosing renewable energy sources and opting for local economic activity. This also helps to build better community connections.
What's next on the horizon?
Our focus now is on running the Majura Community Energy Project, generating revenue and making distributions to our investors.
SolarShare plans to explore new development opportunities in the future. Subscribe to our newsletter to hear our latest news.
Our history
The idea of SolarShare began in 2012, when volunteers started researching and developing a plan to create a community-based solar project. Throughout 2012, SEE-Change and its renewable energy special interest group, Canberra Clean Energy, researched community interest and completed feasibility studies. The result was the community solar toolkit.
In 2014 the ACT government enacted amendments to the Electricity Feed-in (Large-scale Renewable Energy Generation) Act 2011 and called for proposals for a community solar farm. So SolarShare Community Energy Ltd was registered with ASIC and by 2016, $125,000 had been raised as seed capital for the project.
In 2018, SolarShare commenced the capital raising campaign after selecting the Majura Community Energy Project site, which would become the ACT’s first community solar farm.
The volunteers worked diligently to ensure that SolarShare would be a financial success for its community investors and become a model upon which other projects could be built. They worked tirelessly to meet all government and regulatory requirements.
SolarShare would not be where it is today without the dedication of these volunteers, who guided the company’s development, led the capital-raising campaign and oversaw the design and construction of the Majura Community Energy Project.
Today, SolarShare's daily operations and management are overseen by the CEO, while a highly experienced Board of Directors governs the organisation.
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