“People come into the store and ask about it. The electronic readout, which shows how much energy has been generated by the system, becomes quite the talking point for staff and customers.”
Independent grocers, IGA, are known throughout Australia for their community values and dedication to the growth of local business. For owner George Altman, it was important to show his commitment to the environment as well.
“We wanted to go solar because we wanted to make a difference and feel good about it”, said Mr Altman. “A supermarket uses a lot of power, but we don’t want to deplete our resources; we want to reduce our carbon footprint.”
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Project overview
Location
Hawthorn, Victoria
System Size
5.1kW
Estimated Annual Production
7.66 MWh
CO2 Avoided Annually
9 tonnes
Solar Panels
30 x Solarfun 170W
Solar Inverter
SMA SB 5000TL
Installation Date
February 2010
A SMA Sunny Webbox was installed to allow solar output data to be accessed over the internet through SMA’s freely hosted data storage website, Sunny Portal. The Sunny Matrix public LED display shows daily yield, power output, total yield and cumulative CO2 reduction.
“People come into the store and ask about it. The electronic readout is installed above the meat department, which shows how much energy has been generated by the system and becomes quite the talking point for staff and customers.”
Mr Altman says the system also caused a stir within the supermarket industry.
“I’ve had a lot of people ring expressing their interest in what we have done. At the time, it was one of the first supermarkets in Australia to go solar.”
With large flat roofs largely standing empty and unproductive, supermarkets are ideal candidates for solar power installations.”
As to plans for the future, Mr Altman would increase the size of the system, but it would be great if the government increased its support for small businesses to adopt solar energy.
“We’re just the local store, trying to help, trying to do our bit.”
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