24. Coast FM studio

Solar panels on Coast FM studio building roof

Project 24: Coast FM Wynyard community radio studio, Tas

Coastal FM operates a professionally built studio complex in Wynyard with 3 transmitters covering the NW Coast of Tassie from Smithton to Launceston. It is a community radio station operated by a core of 12 on-air volunteer staff with an average age of 65 who provide 24/7 production for an approximate audience of 40-50,000 listeners for a variety of different programs.
Website: http://www.coastfm.org/

Project story…

This Quick Win project installed 5.28kW of solar PV at the Coast FM radio studio at Wynyard. Earlier we had given them a loan to install solar PV at one of their transmitter stations, and they had registered their interest in also installing solar PV on their studio building. Wisely they applied for some grant money for solar for the studio, but when that didn’t work out we offered a CORENA loan to cover the solar PV up-front cost.

This project proceeded very smoothly because we had already successfully completed the transmitter project with Coast FM and we all knew what to expect.

See what has been achieved via the CORENA loan to the Coast FM Studio so far

* The MWh figure is the amount of grid electricity avoided by solar electricity generation and energy efficiency measures. The resultant reductions in carbon emissions can be visualised as an equivalent number of average households switching from grid electricity to 100% renewable electricity, noting that the subsequent projects have been avoiding grid electricity for less time than the original project.

This project has been fully funded- Thank you!

Progress bar showing fully funded via $2,116.45 in new donations and $7,595.55 in loan repayments

Honour roll

Thanks to all the people who have donated to this project.

Status: Funded project – loan repayment in progress
Loan amount: $9,712
Loan repayments: $450/quarter


Work details

5.28kW solar installation:
16 x LG 330 watt NeOn2 panels
Solar Edge SE5000 5KW inverter (single phase)
16 x Solar Edge P350i Optimisers
DMS Solar Framing in 10 panel block
Cyclone Rated ColourBond Feet
300 KG Lift rating
Cost: $9,712
Expected savings: $1,825/year, approx 7,300kWh/year

Reduction in carbon emissions/yr: Equivalent to 1.32 average households using renewable electricity instead of grid electricity