Brisbane Brewery Commercial Solar Design & Installation
Information last updated 14/04/2022
David and Lachy from Ballistic Beer Co have a drive to produce incredible, tasty beers that brings people together and helps to grow the community. Since opening in July 2016, they have been brewing unique craft beers and offering a welcoming place for their customers to sit, chat and relax.
In August 2019, the Ballistic Beer Co team decided to take the leap and go Solar. They made this decision because they wanted to become more sustainable and improve their social responsibility. Plus, the swap to Solar meant the company could make the most of the Queensland sun and reduce their energy bills. As the team said so well… “We’re looking forward to electricity bills dropping big time!”.
Our team at Gardel Electrical worked closely with David, Lachy and the Ballistic team to design a system optimised to suit their power usage. We completed a full energy audit and decided on a 70kW system, designed to suit their forecast business needs, including expected growth, for the next 10+ years.
70kW Grid-Connected Solar PV System consisting of 194 Canadian Solar Panels & Solar Edge Inverters.
In the time since this 70kW system was installed in August 2019, it has generated over 262,860 kWh of electricity. To put this into perspective, the average household uses around 15,000 kWh in a year (so yes, this is a lot of electricity!). In total, this Solar PV System has stopped an equivalent of 157,900 kg of Carbon Dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
The self-Consumption rate for this System = 85% (very high)
The self-consumption rate is the percentage of the total electricity generated that was consumed by the site. Increasing the self-consumption rate is the key to getting the best savings from a solar system.
Within the first year of having this solar system, Ballistic Beer Co saved almost $19,500 (ex GST). This is the combined value of the energy that would have otherwise been purchased from the grid, plus the income from the 20% of Solar-produced energy that was exported to the grid.
The expected full system payback (Return on Investment) for this system is only 2.8 years. This is equal to a 35% IRR (Rate of Return).