Brisbane Airport Tenant

Situated in Queensland’s largest airport precinct, Brisbane Airport, this tenant was searching for a feasible solution to offset their heavy electricity consumption and reduce its overall carbon footprint. With multiple franchised and corporate-owned locations across the country, the Brisbane Airport site was one of the first to experiment with clean energy to offset their consumption and has presented itself as a test case for the company. 

With a company-wide focus on improving sustainability efforts, transitioning to clean energy was an obvious first step. With the tenant’s location being in sunny South East Queensland, and with no shading factors, a solar energy system presented itself as the ideal solution. 

“We were utilising a high amount of power and wanted to be more eco-friendly and self-sustainable.”

Projects and Facilities Coordinator, Airport Tenant

The tenant sought to achieve two goals with a solar energy system:

1. Significantly reduce electricity costs
2. Lower the site’s carbon footprint

These goals were presented to the Commercial Projects team at Springers Solar, and after conducting a site visit, reviewing their electricity usage and power costs, and analysing forecasting software, a solution was presented to the tenant. 

“We did our research and found Springers to be quite reputable and professional and hence chose them. We are hoping this helps us reduce our emissions and also reduce our electricity charges and being that it's in QLD, [the system] has a good payback period.”

Projects and Facilities Coordinator, Airport Tenant

Given the significant electricity consumption of the tenant, maximising the amount of solar energy generated was critical - the Brisbane Airport site consists of one large commercial building with an East-West configuration, permitting an ideal array design to capture as much sunlight throughout the day. 

A 293kW solar energy system utilising high energy density solar panels was designed to fill as much of the available roof space as possible, thereby maximising the largest possible amount of solar energy this building could accommodate. 

666 Trina Solar 440W Vertex S+ Dual Glass N-Type solar panels were installed on the rooftop. Trina Solar has an excellent module efficiency rating at 22%, offers a comprehensive 25-year product and 30-year power warranty, and is one of the best-performing panels on the market with N-Type technology and a whopping 440W maximum power output.

The array was paired with two 110kW Sungrow Premium Three-Phase Inverters, to maximise power conversion efficiency and feed continuous solar power to the site. Sungrow inverters were selected for their reliable performance on large commercial systems and are the most compatible choice for the system type and size. 

All components were required to be compatible with a specific data logger device used by Brisbane Airport. Discussions were held at length with Sungrow to ensure that the selected components would facilitate this communication and uphold this regulation.

Springers Solar’s in-house RPEQ engineer designed the system to comply with all Australian standards and compliance requirements and worked with external consultants to certify the proposed system would not adversely affect the structural integrity of the building structure. We collaborated with Clenergy, the roof racking manufacturer, to create a site-specific design for the array. 

Significant communication and coordination were required between our project team, the tenant, multiple Brisbane Airport stakeholders, and CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) to acquire certifications and approvals for the project. CASA was involved to ensure that the glare from the solar panels would not impact incoming or outgoing flights.

Once approval to proceed was obtained from Brisbane Airport, Springers Solar deployed our in-house commercial installation team to install the 293kW system over a month-long period. We liaised with the Projects and Facilities Coordinator to ensure the installation and any power shutdowns were completed when it would least impact their business operations. This involved completing overnight work from 10pm to 4am. 

The system is expected to offset 80% of the energy consumed by the premises. This is estimated to reduce a $22,000 quarterly electricity bill to approximately $6,000 a quarter. This significant reduction in electricity costs allows the tenant to reinvest additional cash flow back into the business. Over the lifetime of the solar system, this site is expected to see a lifetime bill saving of approximately $1.9 million.

This system has been designed as a zero export system due to Brisbane Airport regulations. Instead, this system will redirect excess solar energy to large-scale EV charging stations to charge an electric vehicle fleet. 47% of all solar energy generated will be consumed to power building facilities, with the excess 53% diverted to EV charging. 

Carbon emissions at the site will be reduced by 80%, with over 307 tons of CO₂ being saved from release per year. Over the system’s lifetime, that’s the equivalent of:

• 9,169,858 km avoided from driving a car 
• 58,952 trees planted
• 6,563 long-haul flights avoided 

With a payback period of only 5 years and 4 months, the tenant viewed this project as a financially viable option to transition to clean energy and reduce electricity costs. Protected by extensive product warranties, Springers Solar’s 10-year workmanship warranty, and Springers Solar’s dedicated after-sales service team, this system will operate effectively for decades. Our commercial service team will continue to monitor this site to ensure ultimate peace of mind and to allow the tenant to focus on what matters most - their business operations. 

“[Springers Solar] has been great and was on board to manage the project from start to finish.”

Projects and Facilities Coordinator, Airport Tenant