Origin Energy has been awarded a contract to construct Australia’s largest car park canopy solar installation.
Origin won the competitive tender to design, build and maintain solar canopies for Westfield Marion, South Australia’s largest shopping centre, which is jointly owned by Scentre Group and Australian Prime Property Fund Retail.
Approximately 240 car parking spaces will be covered by 14 separate solar canopies at Westfield Marion.
When completed, the installation will have a generating capacity of 647.73kW and help Westfield Marion achieve annual CO2 savings of up to approximately 650 tonnes of CO2-e/year.
The solar canopy installation project, which forms part of a broader centre redevelopment that includes a new fresh food market and ALDI supermarket, has commenced with initial engineering design works and is due for completion in late 2016.
Origin’s General Manager Solar and Emerging Businesses Phil Mackey said Origin is delighted to be involved in such an important part of Westfield Marion’s broader redevelopment.
“When completed, this will be Australia’s largest installation of its type and will help Westfield Marion reduce its carbon footprint,” Mr Mackey said.
“Entering into a long-term solar solution can help property owners and managers like Scentre Group reduce the energy costs of their assets and provides some cost certainty against potential future movements in electricity prices”.
