• Surplus energy will support local power needs
• Panels set to last up to 30 years
• Payback expected in just over five years
Toyota New Zealand has installed one of the largest rooftop solar systems in New Zealand on top of its 35,000m2 warehouse and National Customer Centre in Palmerston North.
At almost 700-kilowatt capacity, the solar array is expected to generate the equivalent of 60 percent of the centre’s power usage and, during peak periods, will inject renewable energy back into the local network to power up to 35 local homes.
Following its own auto production principles of Quality, Durability and Reliability, Toyota NZ selected Singaporean-manufactured solar panels that have one of the lowest points of degradation; they are expected to still be producing at 90% or more of total capacity (698.88kW) after 30 years of operation.
Toyota NZ Chief Risk and Value Chain Officer Mark Young said sustainability is a core feature of the purpose-built warehouse and National Distribution Centre (NDC), which was enlarged to the size of five rugby fields in 2018.
“We’re committed to making a positive impact on the environment from our NCC operations and renewable energy is a strong focus. We’re incredibly proud of the solar array going atop the building and the benchmark this will set for future Toyota developments in New Zealand. Already 11 of 63 Toyota Stores have installed solar power on their roofs,” he says.
Solar power production capacity from the NDC is expected to generate enough energy to power 132 houses per year and avoid approximately 93 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year – equivalent to a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid driving the length of New Zealand 481 times.
Forecast solar performance is 921 MWh per annum. Based on historical energy consumption data of the building, the system has an expected payback period of approximately five and a quarter years.
The scale of the array means Toyota will be generating more electricity from its roof during peak sunshine hours than it needs. On a typical summer’s day, the panels will generate more electricity than the building consumes from 6am to 6pm. Excess power of around 350MWh will be injected into the local lines network, providing more renewable energy for up to 35 Palmerston North households over the course of a year. In winter, the peak period reduces to 9am to 4pm.
Mark Young says installing solar panels in a large scale on the NCC roof made strong commercial sense.
“While we have made a substantial upfront capital investment, the panels will reduce the average monthly electricity bill by around 50%. We expect to have a total return on investment of more than 600% over the life of the panels,” Mark says.
