This morning will see the official unveiling by NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts of one of Australia’s largest car park solar canopies; installed at Flemington’s Sydney Markets.
The 640kW solar array is part of a $14 million car park extension, providing an additional 350 parking spaces in the multi-level car park and a new 4.5 tonne goods lift.
The PV array will avoid 936 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, around the equivalent of taking 522 small cars off the road.
Flemington is a locality within the Sydney suburb of Homebush West, which receives solar irradiation levels of around 4.36 kilowatt hours per square metre daily – a significant amount.
This isn’t the first solar power system at the site, but it’s by far the largest. Collectively, Sydney Markets now boasts 900kW of renewable energy capacity.
“In recent years Sydney Markets has unveiled many ground-breaking initiatives as part of our commitment to sustainability and our community. The upgrade is another successful step towards our goal of being the greenest food market in Australia,” said CEO of Sydney Markets Limited, Bradley Latham.
“By investing in large scale solar infrastructure, we have improved the markets’ green credentials, while reducing its consumption of energy from fossil fuels.”
Other sustainability efforts by Sydney Markets Limited include a significant recycling program.
- 50 tonnes of polystyrene is collected and recycled annually.
- Organic waste is transported to an anaerobic digester facility where it is converted to green energy and fertiliser
- More than 1,400 tonnes of cardboard are recycled each year.
- 1,200 tonnes of pallets were recycled in the past year.
- Old concrete slabs are repurposed as road base for all new concrete slabs.
- More than 50 tonnes of plastic waste is sold each year and recycled into other products
- 6,000 tonnes of general waste is sent to a bioreactor facility.
Sydney Markets states it has contributed 1,800 megawatt hours of renewable energy via waste processing at the bioreactor and the anaerobic digestion facility; equivalent to powering 247 homes for one year.
Since its humble beginnings 200 years ago, Sydney Markets has grown into the largest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower markets in Australia – and it’s also one of the largest food distribution centres anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. An estimated 2.5 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables are sold through Sydney Produce Market and Sydney Growers Market annually.
