The new plant is owned and operated by Australian data centre company NEXTDC and is located at the company’s Port Melbourne facility. The plant incorporates 1,575 high performing REC 255 Peak Energy solar panels covering almost 3,000 square metres of rooftop space and was constructed by Energy Matters, an REC Platinum Partner company. The project is the first such installation within the Australian data centre industry but could point the way forward for other players in the sector.
The NEXTDC M1 plant incorporates galvanic isolation to prevent any leakage from DC to AC power systems and will generate 550 MWh of electricity every year. This represents 5 percent of the site’s electricity usage and is sufficient to power 88 Australian households every day. It forms part of the company’s drive to greater self-sufficiency in power generation and will deliver large annual cost savings on NEXTDC’s electricity bills. The plant will also cut the company’s annual CO2 emissions by 670 tonnes, equivalent to taking approximately 200 cars permanently off the road.
“At Energy Matters, we believe in a world powered by solar energy” said Nick Brass, General Manager Commercial Systems of Energy Matters. “For this to take place, renewable energy equipment must be affordable, of the highest quality and easily accessible to homeowners, schools, community groups and businesses. REC solar panels are the right choice for yield, performance and reliability, particularly in a milestone project like the M1 data centre of NEXTDC.”
REC solar panels made their debut in Australia thanks to a highly successful collaboration with Energy Matters who provide marketing services for projects. The collaboration between the two company has so far provided Australians with approximately 60 MW of REC solar panels, enough to power 15,000 households every day. This enabled Energy Matters to become one of REC’s top three partners in terms of worldwide unit sales, according to John Coates, Head of Australasia, REC.
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