Origin awarded solar contract for Royal Mint, with 15-year PPA

Canberra’s Royal Australian Mint should have a rooftop solar system within months, after signing a 15-year power purchase agreement with gentailer Origin Energy.

The Mint said on Thursday it had selected Origin to install, operate and maintain the PV system on the roof of the 50 year-old heritage-nominated building in Deakin through a competitive tender process.

At 924 PV panels, the rooftop array will be one of the biggest in Canberra, and notches up  another significant win for Origin, which, earlier this year won the contract to build and own a 3MW solar system on the rooftop of the old Mitsubishi factory in Tonsley, Adelaide – Australia’s largest.

The mint launched the solar tender in April this year – a move CEO Ross MacDiarmid said the agency had been considering for more than two years as a way to cut the building’s greenhouse gas emissions and electricity costs.

It called for the development of a discreet, large-scale system of 230kW or more, and included a timetable for the installation to be completed by February 2015.

That deadline has obviously passed, but with Origin now selected for the job, the system is expected to be installed in coming months.

According to a media statement, it will be sited on areas of the roof not visible from the ground, in order to preserve the aesthetics of the Mint’s exterior, while cutting its electricity costs and emissions.

For Origin, which will own, operate and maintain the solar PV system and sell the generated solar energy to the Mint via a 15 year PPA, the project should prove a decent money spinner.

“This is one of the largest solar PPA installations on a building in Australia to date, and demonstrates how large organisations are now making the most of solar energy,” said Origin’s CEO of energy markets, Frank Calabria.

“Solar can deliver businesses benefits to both their bottom line and their carbon footprint, and it is great that the Mint is leading the way for big business in Canberra,” he said.