Sustainability, affordability and convenience are key ideas underpinning the creation of Piara Waters.
With this in mind, it is set to become the first lifestyle resort in Western Australia to be a 100% solar and battery microgrid community.
Understanding that energy consumption is one of the biggest costs for residents, solar roof panels and individual battery storage have been embedded into the overall facility’s design, creating a microgrid.
This allows the Resort owners to – in a WA and Australian first – incorporate homeowners’ power costs (up to 12kWhs a day, the average anticipated daily electricity usage for each home) into their weekly rent, providing them with savings of around $20 to $30 each week.
This is on top of the rent covering council and water rates, land tax, security costs and year-round access to the Resort’s facilities.
“We’re extremely proud of this innovation, which paves the way for any excess power not used by the Resort’s homeowners to be stored in community batteries to run shared facilities, such as the streetlights and Clubhouse,” says Resort sales manager Janine Thomas.
Any homeowner that needs to use more than 12kWhs a day can simply pay for their additional electricity costs.
“The solar panels and batteries are maintained by the Resort, so it’s a hassle-free way for residents to save on their power and at the same time help reduce their environmental footprint through utilising solar energy,” explains Janine.
“We’re also excited to offer two electric share vehicles and five Tiller Rides electric share bikes for the community to use.
“In particular, this makes it easier for couples who may want to own one car rather than two.”
The electric cars and bikes will be able to be booked via a simple phone app.
Information in this article is true and correct as of 27 June 2022.