North East Water (NEW) is proud to announce the organisation now sources 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources, including wind, solar and battery storage.

This milestone represents a major step in NEW’s commitment to sustainability and emissions reduction, as outlined in its Ministerial Statement of Obligations.

Managing director, Jo Murdoch, said the milestone has been in the making since 2017.

“By securing green electricity from retailers and investing in solar infrastructure, we’ve delivered on our promise to power our operations with clean energy”, Ms Murdoch said.

“We now have solar installations at several sites across our service region, not only supplying renewable energy to each facility, but also feed excess electricity back into the grid, helping offset other operational energy use.

The installations include:

• a 3MW solar farm at the Wodonga wastewater treatment plant.

• a 100kW carpark solar system at its head office in Wodonga.

• a 40kW solar array and 42kWh lithium-ion battery bank at the Yackandandah water treatment plant.

• a small but effectively off-grid solar and battery storage solution at Walwa water treatment plant.

“This is a significant achievement for NEW and a testament to the hard work and innovation of our people,” Ms Murdoch said.

“Reaching 100 per cent renewable electricity not only reduces our carbon footprint, but also helps us manage electricity costs and maintain affordable prices for our customers.”

Ms Murdoch emphasised that this milestone is just one part of NEW’s broader sustainability journey.

“We’re currently undertaking a major capacity upgrade at the Wodonga Wastewater Treatment Plant, which will significantly reduce carbon emissions,” she said.

“This project will also improve the reuse of waste to generate renewable energy, either to power the plant or supply the grid.

“Our team is also exploring the potential for solar and battery systems at other sites across the region.

“We are proud to be leading the way in renewable energy and look forward to continuing our journey toward a more sustainable future — with our goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2035 well on track.”