Kingspan Group company Kingspan Energy has begun work on the largest
single rooftop solar photovoltaic project in Australia.
Being installed at the IKEA Tempe store in New South Wales (NSW), the
990kWp project will be the largest of IKEA’s national PV projects, comprising of
nearly 4,000 Yingli polycrystalline solar PV modules, 43 SMA Sunny TriPower
inverters and a solar mounting system manufactured by Schletter Pty Ltd.
Scheduled for completion in mid-September this year, the solar PV
installation is expected to supply over 1,300,000 kWhrs of electricity to the
building.
The latest installation is part of IKEA’s corporate initiative to roll-out
solar PV systems across its stores nationwide not only to gain from benefits
such as sustainability and energy autonomy but also from a commercial
perspective considering the current payback periods.
Specialising in solar energy solutions, Kingspan Energy has delivered
some of the most prestigious large-scale solar PV projects globally including a
5.8MWp rooftop solar PV project for Jaguar Land Rover in the United Kingdom earlier
this year.
Cormac Gray, Commercial and Engineering Manager of Kingspan Energy comments
that they have used only the very best materials available for the iconic solar
PV installation at the IKEA store.
Delighted with IKEA’s decision to select Yingli Solar photovoltaic
modules for the project, Daman Cole, Managing Director of Yingli Australia said
that IKEA has demonstrated its ambition to be environmentally sustainable
through the switch to solar power, and hoped other businesses will be inspired
by the project to consider the solar PV option for their future energy needs.
Mark Twidell, Managing Director of SMA Australia adds that they are proud
to be associated with IKEA on the project. SMA’s inverter technology has already
been installed in numerous IKEA PV systems across Europe.