Impress Media Australia has completed the $100,000 “green” renovation of its office building in Norwood by installing 26 solar panels on its northern roof.
The 4.94-kilowatt system, comprising an array of 26 190-watt Suntech photovoltaic panels and an SMA SunnyBoy 5000TL inverter, is expected to pay for itself through reduced power costs within five years.
As well as producing power for offices in the 120-year old, six-room Norwood villa, the solar system will feed electricity to the South Australian grid during weekends and public holidays.
Impress Media Australia is an Adelaide-based public relations agency that specialises in providing media communication services for technology companies and fast-growing businesses.
Impress Media Australia founder and managing director John Harris said the solar panels were the final stage of a renovation project that started when he bought the property in 1999. “We’ve turned a drafty old building into a state-of-the-art office,” he said.
“We started with essential repairs like replacing the roof and installing fast Ethernet cabling. Over the past few years, we’ve replaced floors, rewired the entire building, installed Magnetite insulation to prevent heat loss and replaced old light globes with LED lighting. We even got the aptly-named PR Painting to spruce up the place with a coat of paint over Christmas.
“The installation of solar panels became a viable option after the drop in PV panel prices during the past year, so we can get a reasonable payback period on this investment. What makes it really nice is the Bluetooth monitoring which allows me to track how much power the system has produced from my notebook.”
Impress Media Australia thanks companies that have assisted it in recent stages of this long-term renovation project including:
- Solar panel system – EcoGreen Electrical http://www.ecogreenelectrical.com.au/
- Magnetite insulation – WinFocus / Magnetite Adelaide http://www.magnetite.com.au/
- LED lighting – Steve Hay http://www.electricalsolutionsandleds.com
For more information about Impress Media Australia, visit www.impress.com.au
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