The City of Sydney has announced it will undertake one of Australia’s largest non-residential solar projects
Consisting of over 2,000 kilowatts of solar panels, the installations will occur on over 30 of its properties during the next 5 years.
The $12.3 million initiative will generate enough clean electricity to provide for the equivalent of 400 homes and will slash 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the City Of Sydney’s footprint each year.
It is expected the project will also cut the City’s power bills by $500,000 annually.
Council owned buildings identified as being possible sites include Town Hall House, Redfern Oval grandstand, Railway Square Bus Interchange, Sydney Park Pavilion, Victoria Park Pool and dozens of other locations.
According to the City’s international energy and climate change expert, Allan Jones, MBE, “The City is delivering on its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 70 per cent and produce 25 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.”
The funding for the project will be sourced from the City’s new Renewable Energy Fund created from the $2 million the City had previously spent each year on buying GreenPower.
The City has already installed solar hot water or grid connected solar power systems on 18 buildings, including Sydney Town Hall, libraries, community centres, child care centres and depots. These existing projects have reduced carbon emissions by 180 tonnes a year.
The City also recently began trialling the Mitsubishi MiEV electric car; which is being recharged through the Sydney Town Hall solar power system installation and is also looking to roll out trigeneration systems in the future.
