New meaning given to ‘crap’ solar with Melbourne warehouse’s rooftop install

The cheeky installation took two years to realise and sits atop a Melbourne warehouse managed by property company MCM.

Few details on the project – including the capacity of the system and which companies where involved in the install – were included in the announcement, but it appears to have been completed using a Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) model, popular in the commercial and industrial segment. 

Most commercial warehouses are rented, giving rise to a conundrum about who should pay for a system which largely profits tenants. Solar companies have found a path forward here by choosing to own the system themselves and sell the solar power to the tenant for a reduced rate.

In the announcement, Who Gives A Crap says the financing option used by MCM meant the project had “no upfront costs for either party,” suggesting a PPA route.

The company also said the installation has saved it around 24% on its month’s electricity bill.

“We are planning to expand solar to all of our Australian warehouses within the next 12 months and have just launched the first ever electric vehicle toilet paper fleet,” Elissa Foster, Head of Sustainability at Who Gives A Crap, said. “We’re also looking into end of life battery solutions to tie it all together.”

“Most emissions are produced by the corporate sector — so if every single company can reduce their emissions, then we can finally get to a point where we start to significantly reduce our impacts on climate change,” Simon Griffiths, CEO and co-founder of Who Gives A Crap, added. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how profitable your business is in the long run if we don’t have a world that’s worth living in. 

“That means we all have a duty to rethink the relationship between profit and environmental impact, but in this instance we’ve been able to reduce costs and improve environmental impact – it’s absolutely win-win.”