THE federal government has come through with vital financial support that will help Bathurst council on its path to net zero.
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It was revealed on November 13, 2025 that the council was successful in its application under round two of the Community Energy Upgrade Fund.
As a result, the federal government will contribute up to $1,786,923 towards the council's Steps to Electrification and Net Zero project, which comes at a total cost of $4,044,293 over two years.
The project involves two council-owned facilities, the Manning Aquatic Centre and the wastewater treatment plant.
The latter will receive a 780kWp ground-mounted solar system with battery storage, which has been referred to as a mid-sized solar farm, while the aquatic centre's gas-powered boilers will be replaced with electric heat pumps.
Additional solar panels will be installed on the roof of the aquatic centre as part of the project.
The project is an action identified in the council's Emissions Reduction Plan, and is anticipated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 900 tCO2e every year and increase the proportion of council's behind-the-meter renewable energy generation to 16.5 per cent.
The project also has positive budget implications, with operational savings estimated to exceed $350,000 per year.
Deputy mayor Ben Fry welcomed the funding announcement.
"This is the exact type of renewable investment that I want to see from a federal government: effective subsidies for residents, businesses, but in this case, a government institution, that actually directly impacts bills as opposed to broadacre impacts on residents and environment," he said.
"This is a clever use of existing rooftops or floodplain sites where we can actually build new infrastructure on existing infrastructure and land that actually cuts our operating costs significantly."
In order to deliver the project, the council will need to provide the remaining funds.
Cr Fry stressed that this money would not be coming from the general fund, but rather from restricted reserves that can only be spent on specific things.
"It won't impact that cash-flow problem that we have in the general fund. The funds used to back this project up effectively are restricted for those purposes," he said.
"... I will say, though, the payback period of this is potentially quite short. We look to recover about $350,000 a year in operational costs just by installing these, and, to me, that's a five or seven-year payback period, which is about on par with most residential solar systems, too."
Council's director of Environmental, Planning and Building Services, Neil Southorn, said work will soon commence on the detailed design phase of the project.
"The planning has gone beyond concept stage. We've actually had multiple iterations of the design specifications undertaken to make sure it was grant-ready, and obviously that was a successful thing to do," he said.
"We now need to revisit those specifications and go to detailed design and construction phase. It will take a little bit of time ... but we've got a good starting point and we'll be right into it."
Potential benefit for pool users
While the council has not formally committed to the idea, there are talks of extending the season for the outdoor pool at the aquatic centre.
This has long been a complaint from regular lap swimmers, who want to be able to keep swimming outside through cooler months.
With the operational savings, it could make it financially viable to keep the outdoor pool open longer each year.
"That's a decision for the council as to how long different facilities operate for, including the outdoor pool, but that could be a route that the councillors would like to go down in terms of changing the management and timeframe of the outdoor pool," Cr Fry said.
