Australia's iconic landmark – the Sydney Opera House – has made news in the renewables domain by signing a power purchase agreement (PPA) to procure solar and wind power for a period of 7 years. The agreement has been signed with energy retailer Flow Power.
It will get wind power from the 270 MW Sapphire Wind Farm, while solar power will come from 120 MW DC/100 MW AC Bomen Solar Farm being developed in Wagga Wagga. The Opera House plans to use power from these projects to meet more than 85% of its annual energy consumption of 16 GWh. It is equivalent to meeting electricity requirements of 2,500 households.
Currently, the most popular landmark of Australia pays 2.4 million AUD ($1.68 million) on its annual electricity bill which will be now used to purchase clean power.
The Bomen Solar Farm is currently being constructed in New South Wales by EPC contractor Beon Energy Solutions, an associate of Spark Infrastructure that acquired the project from Renew Estate in April 2019. Beon is using JinkoSolar modules, SMA inverters and NEXTracker trackers for the project that's expected to come online in Q2/2020 when it is expected to generate around 219,000 MWh of solar power annually (see Australian Electricity Network Owner Buys Solar Farm).
"The Opera House is Australia's first heritage-listed building to commit to this innovative energy retail model, joining a growing number of high-profile organisations leading the way towards a low carbon future through investment in large-scale renewable projects," said Sydney Opera House Executive Director of Building Ian Cashen. "This deal brings us another step closer to our long-term renewable energy goals and will deliver significant savings in operational costs over its seven-year period."
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