• Cockburn mayor Logan Howlett with new windpods on top of the council HQ, which should generate 4.5Mw of power a year.

COCKBURN city council has installed the southern hemisphere’s largest windpod system.

Windpods were invented by Fremantle resident Graeme Attey and use micro wind turbines to generate power onsite. They feature a modular design similar to solar PV.

Cockburn has installed 20 on the roof of its Spearwood HQ and expects to generate around 4.5 megawatt hours’ power a year.

Mayor Logan Howlett says the HQ already uses electricity harvested by the same technology.

“This will be in addition to the 13 per cent of renewable energy already generated for the other two buildings on the city’s administration site,” he said.

“Energy monitoring equipment has been installed and the city is collecting data which will add to its growing wealth of knowledge about sustainability.”

Mr Howlett says the windpods enhance Cockburn’s growing reputation as a green council, following its award last year as Australia’s most sustainable city.

“Our investments in renewable energy were formally recognised last year with our city topping the list for sustainability across the nation,” he said.