Solar Pilgrimage: Seeing Your Super Power In Action

On a warm and windy Thursday, an unlikely group gathered for a pilgrimage 30 minutes south of Canberra.

The destination was Williamsdale, a tiny village straddling the border between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

So what compelled a bunch of strangers - two law students, a jetlagged but jovial newlywed, a mother and daughter, a long distance runner, a disability advocate and a retiree - to spend three hours together visiting this quaint little town?

A desire to experience their superannuation power in action.

Super Builds Solar

The occasion was the official Williamsdale Solar Farm opening.

As Future Super members, this group’s savings helped fund the 36,000 solar panels now pumping clean energy into Australia’s grid, enough to power over 3,000 homes. We invited our ACT members to attend the launch event and see their investment first hand.

In a speech by the ACT’s Minister for Climate Change, Shane Rattenbury, MLA, members learned that the Williamsdale Solar Farm will help the ACT reach it’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2020. The project’s investment lead, Lane Crockett of Impact Investment Group, opened everyone’s eyes to the effort and collaboration required to bring the solar farm to life. The launch event was deemed so newsworthy it made the front page of the Canberra Times as the final solar farm in the ACT’s ‘Solar Highway’.

After the formalities, site manager Rosie gave a short tour. We walked between rows of panels, appreciated the serenity, noted the lack of suffocating coal dust, and asked important questions like what happens when bird poo splatters on solar PV? (Answer: it needs to be cleaned off.)

Before we jumped on the bus back to Canberra, a few Future Super members shared their thoughts on the experience.

Thanks to everyone who made the day possible, including Impact Investment Group, Shane Rattenbury and, of course, our members.

The Williamsdale Solar Farm is one of many renewable energy projects in which Future Super invests. If you’d like be part of a community genuinely connected to their super, find out how today.