Australia’s first “solar-skinned” office tower is expected to be built next year at a historic time for the construction industry and decarbonisation efforts.
The eight-story building at 550-558 Spencer Street in West Melbourne will cost $ 40 million and was designed by the Kennon-based architectural firm on behalf of Dr. Bella Freeman.
It will be covered by 1,182 solar panels of the same thickness as a normal glass façade.
The system, called Skala, is manufactured by the German company Avancis and is based on a “thin film photovoltaic module” located on top of a grid that channels the electricity generated to the main power supply of the buildings.
It is capable of producing 50 times the energy of the average photovoltaic solar array of the roof used in residential homes and will eliminate 70 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
When complete, the system will supply almost enough energy to cover the building’s energy needs. With the addition of additional roof panels, the building is expected to have almost no ongoing energy costs and will be carbon neutral in a few years.
The design goes beyond a similar project by retirement company Cbus, which has plans for a 49-storey office tower at 435 Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD, which is expected to cost $ 1 billion.
A solar panel façade will provide 20% of the building’s power when completed in 2026.
Because construction is based on heavy machinery, transportation, and fossil fuel-powered manufacturing processes, many buildings begin with a significant carbon footprint, called “built-in carbon.”
The construction sector accounts for 39% of global CO2 emissions. According to the World Green Building Council, cement production accounts for 7% of all global emissions, while steel production accounts for between 7% and 9% of emissions.
Architect Pete Kennon said the Spencer Street building would pay off its carbon debt and “be really carbon neutral,” without relying on offsets and other accounting measures.
“These things are possible, and the fact that a building can take advantage of the sunlight from its own skin, seems like something you dreamed of or saw in a cartoon,” Kennon said.
Kennon, 34, began researching solar skin products in 2019 when he met the German company. Although he had been involved in projects in Europe, there was no work to bring the product to Australia.
“Australia has one of the strictest, if not the most, building codes in the world,” he said. “And considering all the recent history with flammable facades, it’s a very hot topic, forgive the pun, so there’s a lot of due diligence that needs to be put into proposing a product like this.”
Solar skin is undergoing a final round of testing before it can be approved, at which point the technology would be available for use in other buildings.
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A decision by the building appeals board filed on April 7 determined that construction of the building could continue and that “the use of photovoltaic panels in the building […] meets performance requirements. ”
“We didn’t invent the product, but we invented the way it can reach our country, and our country is such a huge market because of access to sunlight,” Kennon said.
“I can’t believe it hasn’t been done yet.”