LOGISTICS property specialist Logos has announced Moorebank Logistics Park in south-western Sydney will be equipped Australia’s largest rooftop solar installation.
MLP is the country’s largest intermodal freight facility and is positioned to become a fully automated port-to-site rail link. Construction of the Moorebank Interstate Intermodal Terminal commenced in April this year.
The solar installation will be installed under a 30-year partnership between Logos and renewable energy fund Solar Bay.
Solar Bay plans to install 60 megawatts of rooftop solar across the estate and 150 megawatt hours of battery energy storage to supply the network with renewable electricity.
The combined power of the rooftop solar and battery energy is expected to generate enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 40,000 homes in New South Wales.
Once fully operational, the solar micro-grid is could be capable of supplying the full energy requirement of the precinct during daylight hours, and source electricity from an off-site wind farm to supply renewable electricity outside peak solar generation periods.
Darren Searle, head of Logos Australia and New Zealand, said installing green infrastructure at the logistics park would enable operations to reach net-zero emissions.
“The impacts of the infrastructure that we will develop with Solar Bay at MLP will extend far beyond the site itself and play a key role in the state, regional and local economies given the size, scale and influence of our market-leading site,” Mr Searle said.
“It also offers substantial opportunity to the tenants of MLP, where they seek to run their own business operations on a carbon-neutral mandate.
“The Logos consortium will develop and fund the construction of the embedded network, with our long-term partnership with Solar Bay delivering the ongoing operation of this network.
“This maximises outcomes for all involved – from Solar Bay as the operator, to Logos as the investment and development manager, to our tenants, with the economies of scale at MLP offering a distinct, market-leading advantage with the amount of renewable energy provided through a microgrid.
“We look forward to continuing to contribute to ongoing innovation in the logistics sector globally.”
Logos said the announcement for Australia’s renewable energy sector would reap environmental benefits and innovation well into the future.
“Our partnership with Solar Bay will allow the Logos consortium to utilise the latest technologies so that we can produce, store, manage, and use energy more efficiently on-site at MLP and run all warehouse operations on 100% renewable energy.”
Solar Bay investment director James Doyle described Moorebank Logistics Park as a prime example of convergence between property and energy infrastructure taking shape across Australia and New Zealand.
“A precinct wide microgrid facilitates the on-site installation of utility scale solar and batteries, providing tenants with the ability to access a vast amount of renewable electricity that match the scale of their electrified operations.
“With over 800,000 square metres of rooftop solar possible we can also assist in the decarbonisation of transport and utilise surplus generation to produce low emission fuels such as hydrogen.
“Solar Bay is excited to be involved with the rollout of the renewable infrastructure at MLP and see it setting a strong precedent for what’s possible at industrial precincts moving forward.”
Future stages of the microgrid will use additional solar generation for electric truck fast charging, thermal storage, hydrogen generation and supply, and related low emission infrastructure.
Logos and its consortium partners, AustralianSuper, Ivanhoé Cambridge and TCorp completed their $1.67 billion acquisition of MLP on 15 December 2021.
The end estimated value of logistics park is $4.2 billion once the site is fully developed.
