Sydney factory to share excess rooftop solar power with employees

One Step Off The grid

An 800kW solar system installed on the industrial rooftop of a window furnishing company in Sydney will soon supply power to that company’s employees, by offering the PV generated power that is unused by the Sydney factory on weekends to workers’ households.

The solar sharing scheme, which is believed to be an Australian first, is a collaboration between the Australian arm of international window furnishings supplier Hunter Douglas, energy traceability software company Enosi, and retailer Simply Energy.

It came about when Hunter Douglas, having installed the 800kW solar system on its Rydalmere factory roof in mid-2018, found it was exporting to the grid a great deal of solar energy on weekends and on weekdays in summer after 4pm, when the factory was closed.

So when an opportunity came up to access Enosi’s Powertracer solar sharing technology through a new retail supply contract with Simply Energy, the company signed up and went about working on a scheme that would extend its rooftop solar savings to its employees.

“The employee energy plan is a practical and future-proofing way to share the benefits of on-site commercial solar production with our employee community no matter how far flung they may be,” said Peter Hughes, the director of finance at Hunter Douglas Australia.

For more on this story, please read the original story at our sister-site, One Step Off The Grid.