Johnson & Johnson Medical recently unveiled a 200kW rooftop solar power system at the company’s North Ryde facility in Sydney’s north west. The solar farm, one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in Australia, was installed by national solar power solutions provider Apollo Energy and its subsidiary, Energy Matters.
Installed in two stages, the second and final stage was switched on by Maxine McKew, previously the Member for Bennelong, and Greg Combet, the Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, on August 19, 2010.
The Johnson & Johnson solar power system consists of 952 Sanyo HIT solar panels, SMA inverters and a Sunlock solar panel mounting system; the latter designed by Apollo Energy and manufactured in Australia. The project is Australia’s largest privately funded solar power plant, and the 7th largest solar panel installation in the country.
The rooftop solar farm will generate enough clean electricity to power more than 50 homes and will offset 241 tonnes of emissions annually, the equivalent of taking 60 cars off the road each year. It’s expected the system will slash electricity bills at the facility by 10%.
According to Max Sylvester, co-founder of Energy Matters, ” 53% of Australia’s emissions come from stationary energy generation. In taking this initiative, Johnson & Johnson Medical is making an important contribution to de-carbonising our economy. As part of this project, Energy Matters is also offering all Johnson & Johnson Medical considerable discounts on solar power systems for their own homes.”
With Australian electricity prices widely expected to double between now and 2015, Johnson & Johnson Medical plans to install a further 100kW of solar power each year to lessen the impact of increased electricity costs and equally as important, to demonstrate the company’s commitment to environmental leadership.
The solar power system is part of Johnson & Johnson’s sustainability program, Project Leaf.
