South East Water goes solar

South East Water’s head office in Frankston, WatersEdge, has switched on a 99 kW rooftop solar panel system, enabling the building to meet more than 10% of its energy needs.

The system comprises 384 panels covering 620 m² and will feed into the building’s electricity network, including its data centre, which houses more than 300 servers. It was switched on by Member for Frankston Paul Edbrooke on 16 January, following installation from EnviroGroup.

Set to generate an average of >350 kWh per day, the system is expected to deliver up to a third of the electricity used at WatersEdge during the summer months. It will thus be a welcome addition to the building’s existing range of environmental features, including rainwater capture and LED lighting systems.

The installation forms part of South East Water’s pledge to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, a target established by the Andrews Labor Government in the Water for Victoria plan. The utility has a range of other carbon mitigation projects underway in order to achieve the targets set out in the plan, including:

• hydroelectric generation using energy from its pressure management systems in the water network;
• solar installations at water recycling plants and key pump stations;
• integrating solar energy into South East Water’s pressure sewer network, as demonstrated last month on the Peninsula ECO project;
• greater fugitive emissions capture, such as the thermophilic anaerobic digestion process at the Mt Martha water recycling plant upgrade.

Image caption: Member for Frankston Paul Edbrooke and South East Water Managing Director Kevin Hutchings on the roof of South East Water’s Frankston HQ.