Sydney Theatre Company Goes Green
Move over Sydney Opera House, the city’s major drama company is all set to go green.
Two months ago, the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) embarked on a major program to transform The Wharf, its much-loved home on Sydney Harbour, into a unique demonstration of how buildings, even heritage-listed ones, can be made more sustainable. A whopping $1.2m (Australian dollars) was committed through the Australian government’s Green Precincts Fund, to assist the Company’s Greening The Wharf project.
A few days ago, the company announced that it will install a large capacity photo voltaic array as a key initiative of the program. The installation of the 2,000 solar panels will be erected on the roof of The Wharf of the Sydney Harbour-based company, along with energy saving measures, and will reduce STC’s power drawn from the grid by up to 70 per cent. It is the first renewable energy project of its kind by any major theater company.
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The project will install Pluto photovoltaic cells – high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells developed by the University of NSW’s School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering and China’s Suntech Power, from the University’s world-record-holding PERL silicon solar cell technology.
The 500kW Pluto solar system, which should be completed in 2010, is slated to be one of the largest capacity rooftop solar project in Australia and along with energy saving measures will reduce Sydney Theatre Company’s power drawn from the grid by up to 70%. The family foundation of Dr. Zhengrong (Suntech’s Chairman and CEO) and Vivienne Shi has donated $2 million to help fund the “Greening the Wharf” project.
“Sydney Theatre Company’s Greening the Wharf project is a great example of innovative energy and water-saving technologies being put to use in the urban environment,” said Federal Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong.
It is estimated that over the next 25 years, the Greening the Wharf project will deliver 10,350 MWh of power generated via the PV array, 5,000MWh in energy savings and water savings of 37.5 million liters.
