ENGINEERING and mechanical business PJL recently had 400 solar panels covering 400 square metres installed in Orange in a bid to prepare for the future.
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The company, which is consolidating its engineering and mechanical sites in Orange is also expanding to Mount Isa, Cobar and Perth and installed the 400 square metre, 100,000kW system last week with plans to roll out solar to other sites if it is a success.
The panels were installed by staff of ePho whose sales and marketing manager Stuart Gordon advised those considering solar to do their homework now and not put it off in case rebates and upfront payments are altered following the federal government’s renewable energy target review released in August.
“A lot of people looked at solar two to three years ago and decided it wasn’t for them, since then it is at least gone half the price that it was in 2010,” he said.
“There is still upfront assistance for solar, which is worth around one third of the overall cost.
“This is in jeopardy, and the discussions around the RET (renewable energy target) that are in the news highlight this.”
Mr Gordon said businesses in particular could benefit from solar as they used more power during the day.
He said the system at PJL will offset 37 per cent of the business’s power saving more than $30,000 a year and would take between two and five years to pay off.
PJL general manager Dave L’Estrange said the company had been considering introducing solar power for two years and decided that since it was consolidating its engineering and mechanical plants into a super facility, to be completed in March next year, now was the time to do it.
“It’s just economical and we are looking at being environmentally friendly,” Mr L’Estrange said.
