Gympie Community Assn (GCSA) originated in 2016 as Murray Keys was very disappointed with the political leadership on climate change; an ongoing, slow paced environmental disaster caused by humanity.  Could  anything be done to improve his households footprint?  Not at that time, so a Community group to encourage the adoption of renewable energy was the best thing to do.

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Murray and Gary Tones drummed up support and a public meeting was held in September 2016 with invited speakers and 30 or so locals attending.  The resulting Steering Committee was tasked with developing a Community group.  The end result was a Community Group called Gympie Solar Projects (GSP).  Their catch phrase was Solar Energy is Abundant, Clean and Free.  The decision was taken to use a market display to generate interest, solicit members and promote interest in solar PV systems.

 

At this stage SolarQ proposed their 350MW proposal at Lower Wonga.    At the markets folks thought we were this group and we received work and enquiries about this project.  At the AGM in 2017, it was agreed to change the name to Gympie Community Solar Assn. to differentiate the group from SolarQ and to emphasize our community base.  GCSA developed a spreadsheet to analyse a households or business energy use based on it's own power bill.  We could compare this cost to a range of solar PV options and show the financial costs or benefits and the environmental benefits as CO2 reductions.

 

Everyone with a similar interest is welcome to join Gympie Community Solar Assn.