Commercial & Industrial PV

The International Energy Agency predicts that India will record the world’s fastest growth in energy consumption from buildings through 2040. The energy demand could create a big market for solar installers and equipment providers, particularly in the commercial and industrial sector. While building codes now include provisions for renewable energy integration, effective implementation will be key to ensuring compliance, reports Uma Gupta.

After a controversial beginning, the Victorian Solar Homes Program recovered and is now setting new records. From the early days when solar installers were forced to protest due to the unintended effects of the policy’s first iteration, to today when more than 165,000 homes have solar as a result of the program, it is fair to say that Victoria is headed into a bright summer.

Japanese energy company Sinanen offers a scalable solar carport that can host a minimum of four vehicles and can be deployed in the parking areas of factories and commercial buildings. The basic system is offered with a minimum capacity of 10.80 kW.

Airports are increasingly turning to solar to decarbonise, with ideations ranging all the way from gimmicky solar runways and “dead zone” solar pathways to very real rooftop arrays. Whatever happens, solar certainly has a place at airports with Brisbane airport saving itself somewhere between $20 million to $50 million thanks to the solar system it installed in 2019.

A torbanite mine proposed for central Queensland is hitching itself to renewable energy, presenting its accompanying 50 MW solar farm as centrepiece of its plan.

Western Australia leads the world in successfully implementing renewables-based energy generation for far-flung customers. Unique joint venture and pioneer in the field, Boundary Power, has been widely recognised for its innovations and is ready to repeat its SAPS successes across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

Australian property investor and developer Cbus Property has revealed plans to clad a $1 billion commercial office tower being developed in Melbourne’s CBD with a ‘solar skin’ capable of generating 20% of the project’s base building electricity requirements.

Western Australian miner IGO is building upon its renewable energy options at its Nova nickel operation after signing an agreement with Perth-based energy storage company VSUN Energy to trial a hybrid standalone power system backed by a vanadium redox flow battery.

Buildings in the City of Melbourne could provide 74% of their own electricity needs if solar technology is fully integrated into roofs, walls and windows, new research from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science has found.

After another year of record rooftop solar installations, and despite Covid-19 related lockdowns and federal political ineptitude on a level comparable to self-sabotage, Australia has soared past the three million mark and the numbers are only accelerating.