Location: Bondi Beach
Installation: 26kW – Allume SolShare system
Estimated annual savings: $7,000(ca. $1,000 per apartment)
Estimated carbon abated: 49 tonnes of CO2 p.a.
Our latest installation at Roscoe St in Bondi is hosted by Independent Community Living Australia (ICLA) and will deliver better energy security to all residents. It will also help ICLA deliver on it’s core mission of providing accommodation and support services to those in need.
The solar installation will feature an Allume SolShare system that will allow the solar energy to be distributed to individual apartments based on residents need and consumption. This will ensure that almost all of the solar is used on-site and allow for residents to feel more comfortable in winter and summer, while also reducing the carbon footprint of the site.
ICLA has pledged to contribute the savings they see on the site’s electricity bills to fund upgrades in appliances and services to the residents of Roscoe St and across their other sites.
This system was funded thanks to a grant from the USDN and Cities partnership to help families in social and community housing to benefit from the solar transition.
While Australia has seen a boom in roof top solar, the vast majority of this is reserved for those who own their own homes or live in detached houses.
For apartment dwellers and those in temporary accommodation, they have little or no access to the saving of rooftop solar and must face the rising energy costs with no repreve.
Those in social and community housing are even more exposed to rising costs and lack of access. Pingala aims to change this by working with housing providers, residents, community groups, private funders and government to bring solar to community and social housing.
Roscoe St demonstrates that solar on appartment buildings is possible and housing providers are willing and motivated to install solar where they can, however there are still significant barriers.
Up front cost: Running on a tight budget to deliver vital services, many community housing providers cannot justify the upfront cost of installing solar, especially when it may not deliver any intiall savings to them directly. For this project Pingala was able to provide the system at no cost to ICLA or the residents.
Short term residential planning: Many of NSW social and community housing providers lease the land or buildings they operate from the NSW Government Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC). These leases are often for 3-5 years and while they are often renewed, this doesn’t provide the contractual stability some providers need in order to make long term investments. Pingala has eliminated this risk by being able to provide full funding of the solar system and accepted this risk as part of the funding. However, this is not a sustainable solution for the thousands of LAHC sites and may be one of the more significant barriers to more widespread uptake of solar amongst social housing providers.
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