Sydney car dealership installs 100kW solar, LEDs for 65% power cut

A Sydney car dealership has tapped CEFC funding to install a 100kW rooftop solar system and LED lighting – measures that are expected to cut the 50 year-old business’s energy consumption by 60 per cent.

Col Crawford Lifestyle Cars used a $320,000 Energy Efficient Loan – an initiative of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Commonwealth Bank – to help fund the installation of the 380-panel solar array and more than 1,000 LED lights at its Brookvale facility; the first stage of the 50 year-old business’s low-carbon transformation.

The project – designed and installed by local NSW company Autonomous Energy – has been described by the installer’s Director, Mark Gadd, as “genuinely ground-breaking,” with around half of the solar panels integrated into a solar car park shading structure.

Col Crawford solar 1
Source: CEFC

 

Phase two of the nearly $1 million project will include the installation of another 600-odd solar panels and more LED lighting to four other buildings, and is set to be completed in two months’ time.

Once completed, Autonomous Energy estimates the annual electricity savings achieved through the solar and lighting upgrades will be equivalent to the energy needs of 200 houses.

On a blog on the company’s website, the company said the Brookvale solar PV system alone would be able to produce over 370000kWh p.a – approximately 35 per cent of the energy consumed there.

solar
Source: Col Crawford’s Lifestyle Cars

 

“On top of this we have undergone numerous LED Lighting upgrades on our buildings saving us over 290,000 kWh p.a. In total we will reduce our overall consumption by approx. 660,000 kWh which is roughly a 60% reduction in our total use. This is the equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by 63 average Australian households.”

CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said in a statement on Thursday that solar and energy efficiency had the potential to benefit a wide range of commercial activities, and make a real and positive difference to businesses’ bottom lines.

“Car dealerships are a presence right across the Australian economy, and investments such as the innovative solar and LED lighting project by Col Crawford make very good business sense for car dealers, while contributing to reduced emissions,” Yates said.

Col Crawford Lifestyle Cars Managing Director Stephen Crawford said the lighting upgrade and solar installation demonstrated that “going green simply makes good business sense”.

“The car manufacturers we work with have been working tremendously hard over some decades now to build green cars, from currently available hybrid vehicles to full electric cars,” he said. “I see that the buildings in our dealership can evolve in a similar way, using energy in a sustainable, non-polluting way.”

Comments

7 responses to “Sydney car dealership installs 100kW solar, LEDs for 65% power cut”

  1. Coley Avatar
    Coley

    For the life of me, I cant understand why most businesses in Australia aren’t doing this, all that sunshine going to waste!

    1. Peter Avatar
      Peter

      Indeed. There is an Aldi supermarket near me. It’s roof is bathed in sunlight and there are few obstructions. I’m waiting for the day when solar panels cover the roof. What a wasted opportunity.

      1. patb2009 Avatar
        patb2009

        it’s happening now. The economic case is there for all of Australia, now it’s just “Inertia”.

        Funny thing about Inertia, it holds things and when it breaks that static friction, it races off downhill

    2. Ronald Brakels Avatar
      Ronald Brakels

      One reason why more businesses aren’t doing it is electricity distributers delibrately engineer their charges to discourage it, doing such things as lowering the cost per extra kilowatt-hour bought while increasing the daily supply charge: https://reneweconomy.wpengine.com/2014/the-500-a-day-service-charge-designed-to-kill-solar-71705

  2. Ian Avatar
    Ian

    Great good news story. My guess is that a large proportion of their electricity bill is for air conditioning . Solar air conditioning with ice storage has the potential to vastly reduce commercial electricity consumption.

  3. Diego Matter Avatar
    Diego Matter

    “…660,000 kWh which is roughly … the equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by 63 average Australian households.”

    That would make 10,476kWh per household – which is, if I may say – an insane amount! No wonder households are complaining about their electricity bill. And no wonder Australia is the second worst CO2 emitter of all OECD countries after Saudi Arabia.

    After energy efficiency measures our household in Queensland is using – including a pool – 1800 kWh per year.

    If only residents and businesses would take the hughe potential of Energy Efficiency seriously.

  4. albertbones Avatar
    albertbones

    Hope they installed a Solar Safety ShutOFF,

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