Roof power fires up industrial sector’s green aspirations

The 16,755 square metre Sydney building is leased to cookware and appliances retailer Williams Sonoma, and the dual Melbourne facility is occupied by efm Logistics and electric tool manufacturer Ozito Industries.

Each building has an “embedded network”, effectively a private energy grid that generates sufficient power to cover the facility’s annual power use, but which also connects to the mains grid to feed back excess energy or draw it down when needed.

Williams Sonoma’s warehouse boasts a 275 kilowatt solar array and a 200 kilowatt-hour battery accompanied by an 180 kilovolt-ampere biodiesel generator. And the dual warehouse occupied by efm Logistics and Ozito includes 200 kilowatt-hours of battery storage, a 400 kilovolt-ampere biodiesel generator and 500 kilowatts of solar, all generating clean energy on site.

The $75 million sheds, which also included green ambitions in the build and materials used, were financed by the CEFC as part of a $300 million sustainability focused loan secured by Frasers, a Singapore-based property giant.

Frasers has a track record for environmental innovation in Australia.

It built Melbourne’s Burwood Brickworks shopping centre, the first mall globally to be accredited under the Living Building Challenge certification, one of the world’s toughest standards for sustainable development.

Loading

The Brickworks’ key innovations include suppling its energy needs with a solar array and offsets, a fully functioning urban farm, collecting and recycling its water, and using minimal toxic materials in its construction.

“In extending the benefits of clean energy to its industrial tenants, Real Utilities is unlocking the value of onsite renewable energy technologies and also increasing the resilience of these large-scale industrial assets,” CEFC director of property investments Ryan Rathbone said.

Real Utilities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Frasers, owns, manages, and maintains the energy infrastructure and supplies Climate Active-certified carbon neutral energy to tenants.

“What we committed to them was that they’ll get green power, as in 100 per cent carbon neutral, for no more than what they will pay for standard grid electricity. It’s a really simple proposition,” Mr Bevilacqua said.

The system is designed to run in synchronisation with the grid, so its energy generation and batteries can respond to high prices in the National Electricity Market, and export power back to the grid in times of market stress.

“The systems can also respond to excursions in the grid system frequency, to support the grid in times of electrical system stress,” Mr Rathbone said.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.