{"id":129451,"date":"2023-09-04T00:27:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T00:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/?p=129451"},"modified":"2023-09-04T00:27:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T00:27:15","slug":"the-next-big-frontier-push-to-cover-citys-office-rooftops-in-solar-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/world-news\/the-next-big-frontier-push-to-cover-citys-office-rooftops-in-solar-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The next big frontier\u2019: Push to cover city\u2019s office rooftops in solar panels"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Save articles for later<\/h3>\n<p>Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n<h3>Key points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The uptake of solar panels in commercial buildings lags residential with panels installed on only around 8 per cent of buildings.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Challenges include buildings being owned mainly by landlords rather than occupants, overshadowing and difficulties with regulations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The City of Melbourne\u2019s target is for the city to be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A push is underway to turn Melbourne\u2019s unused office rooftops into solar farms, but regulations, billing systems and suitable spaces are still a challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Although solar energy is taking off in homes \u2013 about 33 per cent of Australian households have solar \u2013 only 8 per cent of commercial businesses in Australia have taken up the energy source, despite its lower cost than traditional power.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.092%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/c04c29b05d3b9e8d94f8bd0c043e8dd4b2f60af2\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Richard Vargas, chief executive of United Solar Group on the rooftop of 9 Flinders Lane where the business plans to install solar panels. <\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>United Solar Group, an Australian renewable energy developer, will start installing solar panels on Melbourne\u2019s empty CBD rooftops this month and plans to expand across the equivalent of 300 hectares of empty commercial rooftops across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The idea is to fit the unused rooftops with solar panels at no cost to the business landlords or tenants then bypass traditional energy retailers to sell the energy directly to the building occupants while paying a small annual income to landlords.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no need to dedicate precious green space or farmland to building solar farms when we\u2019ve got so many commercial rooftops sitting there empty,\u201d Richard Vargas, the group\u2019s CEO, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeventy-five per cent of businesses don\u2019t own the building that they actually trade from. So, there you have a major problem and the landlord obviously wants something out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is just one of several companies trying to kickstart the uptake of solar by commercial buildings, which account for 66 per cent of all emissions across inner Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>New office projects are increasingly including solar panels in the facade and rooftops from the get-go, such as the 550 Spencer Street building, which will harvest solar energy from its facade, and the 435 Bourke Street tower, whose solar panels will generate 20 per cent of the building\u2019s base power.<\/p>\n<p>But current office rooftops are \u201cvery much underutilised\u201d, Peter Newman, professor of sustainability at Curtin University, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHouseholds have done it, businesses haven\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the next big frontier and it\u2019s a business opportunity. It\u2019s certainly the cheapest form of power and it will enable large-scale systems of solar energy, not just individual houses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newman said that with rising electricity and gas costs, solar and wind are now the cheapest form of energy the world has ever known and they are getting cheaper every year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to have climate change stuff where you can save and it\u2019s actually a better deal than the fossil fuel alternative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.092%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/a31deed18b3fb57ff9145e9a3fdf008e022234a2\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Roof top solar panels on the CGU building in the CBD. <\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>The City of Melbourne\u2019s target is for the city to be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 but the council\u2019s climate change mitigation strategy notes barriers to commercial installation of solar panels in a trial program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was challenging to find suitable commercial sites for installation due to overshadowing from surrounding buildings, and regulations that made connection to the electricity grid and distribution to neighbouring properties difficult,\u201d the strategy notes.<\/p>\n<p>Alan Pears, senior industry fellow at RMIT, said installing solar panels on city rooftops isn\u2019t as simple as it seems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA key challenge is that high-rise buildings don\u2019t have much roof space to install a lot of PV [solar photovoltaics] and there is competition for heating and cooling equipment and other uses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said a solution to this lack of suitable roof space is building integrated PV, which can be fitted to walls, as well as \u201csolar windows\u201d, the technology for which is just starting to emerge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe billing systems and metering systems in commercial buildings are really quite tricky and how easily they can do it will depend on those systems,\u201d Pears said. \u201cThere are lots of possibilities; the real question is how do you make it financially stack up?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. <\/i><\/b><b><i>Sign up here<\/i><\/b><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Most Viewed in National<\/h2>\n<h3>From our partners<\/h3>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/national\/victoria\/the-next-big-frontier-push-to-cover-city-s-office-rooftops-in-solar-panels-20230903-p5e1kl.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Key points The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018The next big frontier\u2019: Push to cover city\u2019s office rooftops in solar panels - bluemull<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/world-news\/the-next-big-frontier-push-to-cover-citys-office-rooftops-in-solar-panels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018The next big frontier\u2019: Push to cover city\u2019s office rooftops in solar panels - bluemull\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. 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