29 Nov, 2017

City of Adelaide accelerates roll-out of solar panels on its buildings

In a bid to reduce carbon emissions and electricity costs, the City of Adelaide will be rolling out the installation of solar photovoltaic (solar PV) on some of its largest electricity consuming sites over the next 18 months.

The sites prioritised for the first stage of implementation are the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, Pirie/Flinders UPark, Wyatt UPark, and the Adelaide Town Hall.

The installation of an additional 800kW of solar PV capacity could reduce Council’s electricity costs by more than $200,000 per year and bring the total installed capacity to over 1.1 MW.

Lord Mayor of Adelaide Martin Haese said that this project would contribute to reducing future energy costs and meet the City of Adelaide’s carbon neutral objectives.

“Electricity costs are due to significantly increase next year. The installation of this amount of solar PV would reduce the City of Adelaide’s total electricity use by approximately eight to nine per cent per year, while reducing carbon emissions by five to six per cent a year.

“Reducing energy use and costs allows us to put those savings towards operating expenses, enabling Council to invest more in community services and facilities.

“Our community has a shared ambition to work together and make the City of Adelaide the world’s first carbon neutral city. To achieve our goal, as individuals and as a community we need to rapidly reduce our carbon emissions.

“The City of Adelaide also has a target of carbon neutrality for its own corporate operations by 2020. This project is a demonstration of Council’s commitment to renewable energy and taking cost effective action to reduce emissions.

“Adelaide and the South Australian community are global leaders in taking action to tackle climate change. We are playing our part in this global challenge and maximising the economic, social and environmental opportunities of technological and behavioural change.”

The City of Adelaide currently has 180kW of installed solar PV capacity (located at the Adelaide Central Market, London Road Depot, Rundle UPark and Adelaide Central Bus Station), which, based on 2018 and 2019 electricity costs, will save approximately $50,000 per annum.

A further 150kW currently being installed at the London Road Depot will result in likely additional savings of $40,000 per annum.

The City of Adelaide’s priorities include energy use reduction measures in the areas of buildings and facilities, public lighting and renewable energy and energy storage.
By June 2020, the energy requirement for all Council buildings will be sourced from low carbon or renewable energy sources wherever possible.

Paula Stevens