Background
Shine On first worked with Henkel to upgrade their lights to LED at both their Kilsyth and Seven Hills adhesive technology sites. Henkel was committed to continuing its carbon footprint reduction, so after a short tender process we began work on decreasing their grid reliance by installing Solar PV across both sites.
Both are manufacturing facilities so draw large amounts of energy, but equally have huge mostly unimpeded roof space. Rather than purchase the systems, Henkel elected for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Over the last decade we have helped them switch numerous sites from metal halide lights to LEDs, so when they became interested in upgrading their Bundoora site to solar we were excited about the helping them save even more on their energy costs.
The project
The planning phase of the project was extensive. Many design reiterations were completed aiming for the highest possible self-consumption. This worked out to be 452kWh for Seven Hills and 613kWh for Kilsyth. All safety, project planning and compliance documentation was approved up front, with status reports provided weekly.
The installations were completed in lock step, with teams in NSW and Victoria. Challenges included state government Covid-19 regulations of the time and prolonged poor weather conditions in NSW. Despite these challenges,
both projects were completed within four months.
Results
The collective 1.1MW of solar installed contributes 34% of the sites’ energy needs. This saves Henkel $206,615 per year, and with PPAs there is no upfront or ongoing maintenance costs.
