Haystacks Solar Garden

Haystacks is Australia’s first large-scale solar garden, allowing hundreds of people locked out of rooftop solar to access the benefits of solar. Pingala worked with partners Community Power Agency and Komo Energy to set up the Haystacks Solar Garden.

The 1.5 megawatt solar garden is hosted by Grong Grong Solar Farm in the Riverina, NSW. 

Haystacks has its own community owned solar co-operative that facilitates credits towards members’ electricity bills.

A solar garden is a similar concept to a community garden, but instead of growing veggies, members get to harvest renewable electricity. People who want to install solar on their rooftop but aren’t able to can join a solar garden – located anywhere – and receive the benefits from collectively owned renewable electricity. 

Nearly 35% of Australians are locked out of the benefits of rooftop solar. The project was developed to create a way for these households to purchase a ‘plot’ in the Solar Garden and have the electricity generated from their portion provided as a discount on their electricity bill.

The team behind this project have been developing solar gardens concepts since 2014 and are part of a broader effort across the community energy sector to make solar gardens a reality in Australia. 

The project was kick-started by a NSW Government grant. In late 2024 members began to receive their on-bill credits via the distributor EnergyLocals.

Find out more on the Haystacks Solar Garden webpage!