A storage building in the Ozone car park has become the Warrnambool City Council’s first off-grid solar powered site.

The building is used as a work station and storage facility by Council’s street cleaning and parks and gardens teams.

The solar panels on the roof are capable of generating 4.32kW of power fed into two batteries with a combined storage capacity of 7kWh.

Building Services Officer John Medley said that the decision to use solar panels and battery storage was made for both financial and environmental reasons.

“We were looking to install dedicated power at the building so we could make better use of the space,” he said.

“It’s rare that we have a building without its own power source, so we took the opportunity to look at all the options, and an off-grid solar system made the most sense.

“The batteries can power the building for about two or three days without any sun, and there’s always the option to plug in a generator for periods if we really needed to.

“Solar and battery technology has reached a point where it is not only great for the environment, it is commercially sound too.

“Being able to use this space will save our workers a lot of time as they won’t need to drive all the way out to the depot to pick up equipment. If they’re working in the CBD, it can be stored here.”

The system was supplied and installed by Leahy’s Electrical.