Alan Rowe knows how stifling cars get in the summer heat and has felt the pain of ever increasing power bills – but the Club Mulwala chief executive hopes he’s found a solution to both.
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Mr Rowe has revealed a regional-first $750,000 plan to install solar shade panels in the club’s car park.
Construction for stage one of the project, which will convert 120 car spaces to shade structures with 215kw of solar, will be completed by June 30, 2018.
Mr Rowe said as well as generating electricity the structures will keep the weather off cars and were adaptable for electric car stations.
He said the club, like much of the region, lacked shaded areas.
“Our power bill was ridiculously high,” he said.
“The club is pretty well open 24/7, not to the public but there are people on site and we have a 61 room motel.
“We were wondering how to get costs down and came up with the idea of a significant solar project in the car park.
“It’s also about members’ needs, people want to park in the shade.”
Club Mulwala will produce 430 Megawatts of solar energy per year, saving 404 tonnes of CO2.
Stage two of the project, will add 2.5 additional rows of solar shade panels.
Mr Rowe said the club funded the project itself and believed it was a good investment, wherein the solar would pay off the structure, building works and solar generator.
He hopes the environmental investment inspires other businesses to follow suit.
“We’re really excited,” he said. “The shade is fantastic for members, and we thought we might as well use the shades to our benefit too.”
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
