Solar

Perth’s Scotch College installs 512kW solar, cuts grid power usage by 25%

Published by

A 120-year old private school in Western Australia is expecting to save around $235,000 a year on its energy costs after installing an impressive 512kW of rooftop solar.

Scotch College, a 1,500-student, 50-building facility located in Perth’s western suburbs, has installed 1,280 PV panels across multiple rooftops of the senior, junior/middle and maintenance school areas.

The system, installed by energy services business Verdia, will displace about 26 per cent of the school’s grid electricity use, including from a 50 metre pool, multipurpose library, and a large dormitory big enough to house 170 boarding students.

“It’s cheaper and cleaner than grid power and is a working example to students of a 21st century distributed power system,” said Verdia CEO Paul Peters.

For the school, the cost of the system is expected to pay for itself in just under five years and save the school $4 million in reduced energy costs over the life of the assets.

Read the full story on RenewEconomy sister site, One Step Off The Grid…

To sign up to One Step’s free weekly newsletter, please click here.

Sophie Vorrath

Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.

Recent Posts

Solar Sharer free power offer is being undermined by higher network charges and complex tariffs

Some households will use batteries, EV charging and behaviour change to make very good use…

3 July 2026

China battery giant launches major new push for “circularity” amid EV and home storage boom

China battery giant launches two major initiatives aimed at improving the sustainability of battery manufacturing,…

3 July 2026

Government-backed community battery rollout is way behind schedule, with only a quarter built on time

A report into the progress of the federal government's Arena-backed community battery rollout has revealed…

3 July 2026

One of Australia’s first solar and battery hybrid projects reaches financial close, confirming big shift in market

One of Australia's first solar and battery hybrid projects reaches financial close, confirming big shift…

3 July 2026

Solar battery rebate expanded to apartments and big energy users for up to 30 MWh in game-changing move

State government quietly reboots its paused solar battery rebate and expands the scheme to offer…

3 July 2026

Australian software allows Italian homes to get free power from solar panels in Spain. Why not here?

Innovative energy trading using Australian software is "going gangbusters" in Europe – and making our…

3 July 2026