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Primo Smallgoods Solar – Company to install 3.2MW

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Primo Smallgoods are set to install Australia’s biggest commercial solar rooftop PV system with 3.2MW to go up at their Wacol, Brisbane plant in August. 

Primo Smallgoods Solar – Commercial Solar

Primo Smallgoods Solar Installation`
Primo Smallgoods Solar Installation (source: primo.com.au)

The installation will cut Primo Smallgoods’ reliance on the grid by 19 percent, according to chief operating officer Bruce Sabatta:

“JBS globally has set sustainability targets to achieve by 2020. These targets cover water, gas, electricity and greenhouse gas emissions amongst others,” he said.

“As part of the JBS business, Primo has a part to play in the reduction of our environmental impact in Australia,” Sabatta was quoting as saying back in June.

“With our new solar panel installation in place, we will use the power generated from the solar panels instead of solely relying on power from the electricity grid.

“We are making significant investments in energy efficiency to lower our carbon footprint and to continue to improve our efficiency leadership position in the industry,” Sabatta continued.

The solar array will be installed by CleanPeak Energy and Todae Solar, following a tendering process by Solar Choice in 2016. Todae are also responsible for the Brisbane Markets’ solar installation and the 12.3MW solar system Stockland are currently rolling out, so they have a lot of experience in these large-scale commercial solar installs. CleanPeak Energy was started by Philip Graham and Jonathan Hare, previously of Citigroup and Origin Energy, in order to work solely on commercial solar – so this job looks like a perfect fit.

“Our model is to effectively work with a customer to deliver a power solution that is renewable and cheaper than their current offer,” Mr Graham was quoted in the AFR.

“We are not looking at selling panels: we are looking at finding the best efficient distributed generation with panels and battery combinations and delivering an energy service to customers, and we are getting some good traction on that already.”

One Step Off The Grid are reporting that the Primo solar system will generate 4,869MWh of power in its first year – the equivalent of powering 20,032 homes for one year.

This comes at a time where private/commercial investment in large-scale solar is at an all-time high with companies like Hunter Douglas investing in 800Kw earlier this month. 

“This installation is notable for the cutting edge technology that we have chosen, and its cost effectiveness which will see it pay back the investment in a little over four years,” said Tony Politis, Hunter Douglas MD for Australia/NZ.

There are many other commercial solar installs on the books all across Australia, including:

Brisbane Airport are installing a huge 6MW solar array at multiple locations which they are hoping to have complete by the end of 2018. 

BlueScope Steel will buy 200 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year from the Finley solar farm.

Cannington Mine‘s owner, South32, will install a 3MW solar farm across six hectares – to supply the mine’s accommodation village and airport. 

 

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Electrolux Solar & Battery Storage at Dudley Park

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Electrolux solar – the home products giant have applied to ECOSA to build a solar pv + battery storage facility at Dudley Park – their ‘cooking division’. The application, launched by Atul Badgujar on February 12, is for a 2MW solar system on site and a .5MW battery storage system. It adds to the large amount of private solar investment we’ve been seeing recently and will add to existing solar panels that Electrolux have installed.

The Electrolux solar installation

Electrolux Solar Installation at Dudley Park
Electrolux Solar Installation at Dudley Park (source: ECOSA.SA.Gov.Au)

According to the application, 65% of the solar PV generation will be used onsite and 35% will be used to charge the battery and for potential grid export. The plant will be built over multiple buildings in three generating units over 5 stages, adding to an existing 360kW of solar Electrolux have already got installed. 

The .5MW batter will be mainly used for peak shaving (reducing the amount of energy purchased from the utility company during peak demand hours) and reducing the site kVA demand. 

Private Solar Investment in Australia

There’s been a lot of commercial solar investment in Australia over the past 12 months. Earlier this week we reported on the Sydney Markets’ $8.9m, 3MW solar power system.

According to an article we wrote last year based on figures from Warwick Johnston at SunWiz,  Commercial Solar in South Australia also rose 84% in 2017.

“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.” 

Some other private investments we’ve seen come up recently include:

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Community Solar in Canberra – Majura Solar Farm

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Investors in the Australian Capital Territory have put $3.07 million into Australia’s largest community solar project – which will be built on a vineyard in Canberra. Community solar isn’t a new thing in Australia – but it’s certainly gathering steam (or sunlight) as rising energy prices and rapidly improving solar power technology is encouraging people to invest in renewable energy.

Community Solar – The SolarShare Community Energy Majura Solar Farm

Community Solar - Majura Solar Farm
Community Solar – Majura Solar Farm (source: serree.org.au)

The $3m solar plant is going to be built at the flat land at the bottom of the valley at Mount Majura Vineyard (since wine grapes are best grown on slopes this is currently unused land) and will consist of 5,000 solar panels. The Majura Solar Farm will be built over approximately three hectares and is expected to produce 1.9GWh of electricity per year, which it is planning on selling directly to the ACT government.

Lawrence McIntosh from SolarShare said that, pending approval, they are hoping to have the farm built in 2018.  The ‘SolarShare Community’ applied to sell the energy at a fixed price to the ACT government –  for $200/Mwh ($0.20 / kWh) over a 20 year period. No word on whether this is a bit hopeful but we’ll see (click here for the annual volume weighted average spot prices) how they go, given that this is the largest community owned solar plant in Australia, in terms of output. According to the Canberra Times, the feed-in tariff (FIT) amount is still under consideration. A spokeswoman from the ACT Environment and Planning and Sustainable Development was quoted as saying “The Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability will make the final decision regarding the outcome of the process”.

533 backers are part of the community solar project which comes hot on the heels of private solar investment in Australia growing exponentially over the past few months.

 

 

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