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ALDI Solar System installed at Brendale, QLD

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A press release by Epho Commercial Solar Energy this morning announced that they have completed installation of a 1MW PV solar system on top of ALDI’s distribution centre at Brendale, QLD. The ALDI solar system is now live and is expected to offset the equivalent amount of carbon to planting 30,000 trees or taking 422 cars off the road each year. 

ALDI Solar System at Brendale

1MW Aldi Solar System at Brendale Distribution Centre
1MW Aldi Solar System at Brendale Distribution Centre (source: app.com.au)

The 1MW PV solar rooftop at the ALDI Brendale Distribution centre will generate 1.45 million kwH (1,454Mwh) and was installed by Epho, using over 20km of cabling and 3,400 solar panels. It was installed while the distribution centre was in use – making the installation a bit tricky and requiring expert installers. Epho has previously worked with ALDI via a commercial solar pilot program in 2016, where stores in NSW and VIC had smaller solar systems installed. 

Epho Operations Manager Luke Butterworth expounded further on the install in the media release: “To meet ALDI’s stringent requirements and maintain its award-winning customer experience, each ALDI installation needed to happen in a ‘ghost-like’ manner with minimal disturbance to the normal operation to ALDI’s business,” said Mr Butterworth. “The 1MW project allowed Epho to demonstrate every facet of our turnkey solar power solution to our customer, from project management, to stakeholder management, engineering and operations as well as work health and safety.”

Dr Oliver Hartley, Epho’s MD, was similarly excited, noting in the press release that “Solar power is a perfect fit for supermarkets and these large commercial solar systems can supply a significant chunk of the electricity needs for stores and distribution centres with free and clean renewable energy for years to come.”

It’s estimated that the system will fully cover the facility’s power requirements on a sunny day (and there are plenty of those in Queensland!)

Commercial Solar in Australia

Back in September, we reported on the growing trend of private businesses installing solar power on their premises, noting that commercial solar installs are up 60% in the last year and a half. 

Installs such as the Brisbane Aiport Solar System,  Complete Office Supplies’ private solar investment, and the Mitani Group’s commercial solar installation in South Australia are becoming commonplace as commercial solar grows as a financially viable option to protect against rapidly rising electricity costs. Great to see ALDI following suit and we’re sure there will be many more to come as Australia continues its renewable energy revolution. 

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Commercial Solar in South Australia growing rapidly.

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Commercial Solar in South Australia has been growing rapidly over the past 12 months, with installations at their highest peak since 2012 (when extremely generous feed-in tariff prices were available for early adopters in a (successful) attempt to kickstart the burgeoning solar market).

Commercial Solar in South Australia

According to SunWiz, there’s been a huge 84% growth in businesses investing in solar energy (commercial solar) in the last year. That’s nearly 9,000 units – more than double the rate of two years earlier. The ABC website quoted Warwick Johnston, the managing director of SunWiz, as saying that the uptake rate is higher due to better quality (and higher efficiency) panels at more competitive prices.

“System prices have fallen significantly … since the feed-in tariff-driven boom,” he said. “So people are really taking this up just for the underlying business case rather than trying to rush in to secure some government subsidy, which isn’t needed any more.”

Johnston said that commercial grade PV solar systems were the fastest growing segment, noting that places such as shopping centres and supermarkets have invested in solar energy to help offset the rapidly rising cost of electricity. We could also point to other great examples of this, such as Complete Office Supplies’ private solar investment – an office supply company who, in June this year, invested $1m in rooftop PV solar at their Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne warehouse locations (the 611MWh solar systems were installed by Sun Connect).

The Advertiser gives us the example of the Mitani Group, a frozen food, chicken salt (our favourite) and mayonnaise manufacturer based in Salisbury, SA. The Mitani Group installed a 100kW system in December 2017 and, according to the managing director Tas Mitani, the company saved between $1,700 and $1,800 on electricity in July alone. Mitani bought the panels from TINDO Solar, Australia’s only solar panel manufacturer who have also seen commercial solar increase rapidly over the last year. Managing Director Glenn Morelli said that “sporting organisations and clubs, to white-collar businesses, to manufacturers, food industry, aged care,” were all benefiting from installing solar power, and that he was seeing interest from all sectors – basically “anyone with an electricity bill”.

Tindo Solar - Commercial Solar in South Australia Suppliers
Tindo Solar – Commercial Solar in South Australia Suppliers

With companies that use a lot of energy wanting to mitigate the risk of skyrocketing energy prices and the cost/benefit ratio of solar becoming more and more apparent as solar tech advances, we expect to see this trend of commercial solar increasingly rapidly.

Are you a company looking to install solar power at your premises? We partner with a select and trusted group of installers Australia wide, and can help you crunch the numbers to come up with the highest ROI solution for your solar investment. Fill in the form to the right or email us for more info.

 

 

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