Australia’s Largest Single Site Rooftop Solar Panel Installation Complete

A 1.77-megawatt solar power installation at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, was officially opened on Monday.

More than 6,000 solar panels have been installed on the rooftops of 17 buildings at the campus. The $3.2 million project will generate approximately 2,600,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, providing around twenty percent of CSU’s power requirements.

The project was funded by a 10-year loan from Westpac and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). Repayments will be made from the savings on electricity expenditure.

“The Solar PV project highlights and enhances our reputation as the leading higher education institution committed to sustainability,” said CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann

CSU was certified as Australia’s first Carbon Neutral University in July last year under the Australian Government’s Carbon Neutral Program. The University’s current carbon offset portfolio can be viewed here.

As a signatory to the Talloires Declaration, CSU is part of an international commitment to environmental sustainability in higher education.

While the CSU project is currently the largest single site rooftop solar installation in the country, it won’t hold that title for long. In September, Brisbane Airport Corporation announced it was investing in a 6MW system consisting of 22,000 solar panels across six sites at Brisbane Airport (BNE). Brisbane Airport’s International Terminal alone will support 1.98MW of solar panel capacity. The project, which is expected to be completed in August 2018, will generate more than 9,315,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.

Australian universities have been increasingly embracing solar power to reduce their carbon emissions, slash electricity costs and provide educational opportunities.

Last month, we reported University of Queensland’s Sustainability Scorecard 2016 indicated UQ generated more than 8.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from its 47,000+  solar panels last year.

Also in October, Monash University announced its Net Zero Initiative, which sets a target of MU being powered by 100% renewables by 2030. The initiative will involve 5.5MW of on-site solar generation capacity; with the balance of electricity needed to be sourced from off-site renewable energy projects.

The University of Southern Queensland’s Sustainable Energy Solution project (Stage 2) is also well under way, with solar panels installed on the rooftops of buildings at USQ’s Springfield and Ipswich campuses. USQ’s Sustainable Energy Solution Project was recognised at the Clean Energy Council 2017 Solar Design and Installation Awards.

The final stage of USQ’s solar project at the Springfield Campus is scheduled for completion in mid-December.