21 September 2009: Small Alice Springs business installs 10 houses worth of solar

An Alice Springs business is leading the way in energy efficiency in the town after installing a 20 kilowatt (kW) solar power system on its roof.

It is the largest solar power system to be installed on a small business so far, through Alice Solar City.

Equivalent to ten 2kW systems, the size commonly installed on the average Alice Springs home, the system at GGS Glass & Aluminium (formerly Graingers Glass Service) will supply the business with around 53% of their current energy consumption.

Alice Solar City General Manager Brian Elmer estimates that the business will now generate around 32,000kWh of clean energy each year, and they will save close to $7000 per annum off their electricity costs and prevent 22 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

“This is an impressive result for a small business and we congratulate GGS Glass & Aluminium for making the commitment to become more energy efficient.”

The building is already self sufficient with water, having installed rainwater tanks under the building which meet onsite needs, and Director Tony Pinto is working with Alice Solar City towards a similar result for electricity with a grant of just under $90,000.

Tony Pinto said, “GGS decided to take advantage of the incentives on offer and in turn reduce our carbon footprint, and Alice Solar City provided us with the appropriate information to help make our decision to embark on a solar system much easier.”

“The obvious benefit for us is that it will reduce our running costs, as well as demonstrate to other local businesses that we, as a locally owned and operated business are prepared to invest within the local economy.”

“Given that we are a supplier of energy efficient windows and doors for both the residential and commercial building sectors we believe that by ‘going solar’ we demonstrate our commitment to be energy efficient and we hope this will further enhance our business opportunities.”

“Given the weather conditions we all enjoy in Alice Springs we certainly encourage more businesses to follow our path and become energy efficient.”

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