Sydney Park Pavilion goes solar

As part of a $4.3 million City of Sydney project, Sydney Park Pavilion will be the first of 30 sites to have solar photovoltaic panels installed. The project will have a total peak electrical capacity of 1.25 MW and is expected to reduce the City’s annual carbon pollution by 2250 tonnes.

“We are committed to tackling climate change and driving down carbon pollution. The City has one of the most ambitious targets of any government in Australia - a 70% reduction in pollution and 30% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“Energy produced locally through solar panels, other renewable energy, trigeneration and fuel cell systems reduce the need to spend billions of dollars on new coal-fired power stations and network upgrades, which are driving up household electricity bills.”

Other buildings to have solar installed include: Paddington and Glebe Town Hall, Town Hall House, Redfern Oval grandstand, and the Railway Square bus interchange, as well as libraries, community centres and depots.

The program will increase the City’s solar electricity capacity to a peak of 1.35 MW, with more than 5500 solar panels on buildings across the local government area.

“We have seen a seismic shift in the reduction in the cost of solar panels from two years ago when the City first proposed this project which at the time would have cost $10 million to install 0.75 MW,” said Allan Jones, the City’s chief development officer for energy and climate change.

“Through careful management, the City has now contracted nearly twice the amount of solar PV for less than half the cost than originally envisaged in 2010.”