Geoff Helisma
Clarence Valley Council (CVC) will utilise a $500,000 NSW Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund grant to further implement its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction and Renewable Energy Targets Strategy.
Councillors most likely accepted the evaluation committee’s recommended tender from Jarcon Pty Ltd, trading as Harelec Services to supply and install an additional 100kW PV (photovoltaic) of “solar generating capacity” at the Rushforth Road works depot, as well as 200kW of battery storage, a 100kW standby generator, a car park shelter and four electric vehicle charging stations.
The $855,363.64 (GST exclusive) “project is fully budgeted for, with funds coming from the NSW Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund, to improve the resilience of the Rushforth Road works depot, as well as an internal project budget”, the report to council stated
“A tender evaluation process has been completed and this report recommends the acceptance of the tender providing the greatest value for council.”
The upgrade “will reduce the depot’s emission footprint and, importantly, enable the depot to be fully operational during emergency events when the grid may be down for prolonged periods”, the report to council stated.
“The project also includes constructing a roof structure over part of the car park, to support the additional solar panels and provide weather protection to CVC’s small vehicle passenger fleet parked at the depot.”
In relation to CVC’s climate change policy, the business paper stated that the “project will … reduce CVC’s carbon emissions footprint … a key action to mitigate future effects and impacts of climate change locally and globally”.
“Projects such as this provide valuable contributions towards achieving [CVC’s] carbon emissions reduction targets by 2030 and net zero by 2050.”
There were three “conforming” tenders submitted for the project, which “were assessed against criteria set out in the tender documentation – being 50 per cent price and 50 per cent non-price criteria”, with “a 15 per cent weighting of the total tender score [considering] local supplier content”.
Details of the local supplier content for each tenderer are contained within the tender evaluation plan, which is a confidential document.
“The evaluation committee concluded that the tender from Jarcon Pty Ltd was within budget and provided CVC with the greatest value,” the report to council stated.