This model presents a real opportunity to reduce your electricity expenses, without the need for any extra capital expenditure up front.
Savings will come from three factors:
avoiding the price increases we've seen from traditional power suppliers.
access the lower cost of rooftop solar.
adopt new technology that reduces your consumption of electricity.
1. Avoid price increases
If your organisation consumes power mostly during the day, then you'll be able to produce electricity at the time you need it, with power taken from the grid during early mornings, evenings, and days the sun doesn't fully shine. Conversely, with rooftop solar, you'll sometimes produce more than you need during the day, and that can be exported to the grid to offset your costs.
2. Access the lower cost of rooftop solar
Network charges are typically 40% to 50% of your cost of electricity. And this is not surprising - the cost of getting your electricity to you is huge. Ausgrid tell us each power pole costs between $5000 and $8000 to replace, and there are over 5 million of them in Australia!
Even if other sources of power drop in price over time, the cost of getting the power to you will still be there, so having your power generation on your roof is an advantage.
3. New tech can reduce your consumption
There are a number of ways you can use less electricity. Again, these can be bundled into a package with no capex and no installation risk.
LED lights
LED lights use about 15% of the energy of traditional halogen or incandescent lights. That's an 85% reduction available now. Upstream can bundle the cost of lighting refits into deals so you can avoid upfront cost - and pay them off as part of your monthly bill.
LED lights also last longer. An average LED has a lifespan of 25k - 50k hours. While Halogen lights have a lifespan of 1k - 5K hours, and incandescent just 1k hours.
Intelligent HVAC controls
Maximise efficiency by installing intelligent systems to control your heating, ventilation and air conditioning – which can be responsible for up to 70% of electricity usage.
Power Factor Correction
Maximise efficiency in electrical loads by improving voltage to equipment, maximising current and reducing power losses. Particularly useful for industrial energy users with heavy mechanical loads.
Building Management Systems
Real-time remote monitoring and control of your consumption patterns, by intelligent algorithms to reduce wastage and inefficiencies.
By 2030 rooftop solar and battery storage will be the norm, with centralised power stations left largely redundant. Upstream can fund your project so you can be part of the energy transformation of Australia, at no capital cost. Please complete the below form for more information.
