If solar panels topped Suncorp Stadium, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Roma Street Station, they could generate electricity for 1200 homes and save 5414 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission a year.
Solar panels on Suncorp Stadium could collect enough energy to power 806 homes, panels on QPAC could power 202 homes and 196 homes could be powered from panels on Roma Street Station, according to research by the University of New South Wales.
This solar panel research on city buildings shows they could begin the process of saving $30 million from electricity bills.
What the UNSW/Australian Photo Voltaic Institute Research shows:
- 88 per cent (or 21,302 sqm) of Suncorp Stadium's 24,200 sqm roof could support PV panels;
- 49 per cent (or 5760 sqm) of QPAC's 11791 sqm roof could support PV panels;
- 48 per cent (or 5525 sq m) of Roma Street Station's 14,359 sqm roof could support PV panels;
- Electricity from solar panels on these three buildings alone could power 1200 Queensland homes;
- They could collectively save 5214 cubic tones of carbon emissions each year;
- The average Queensland home used around 5793 kilowatt-hours of energy per year in 2014.
The Australian PV Institute has developed a "solar potential tool" and can be used to read a wide range of solar energy information "live".
It shows that in Queensland, 8.97 per cent of electricity demand in met by photovoltaic cells, more than Victoria (8.62 per cent), New South Wales (7.29 per cent) and Tasmania (4.57 per cent).
The impact of adding solar energy panels to commercial buildings in Brisbane is just one set of findings in research by UNSW and the Australian PV Institute.
Their research also finds only about "one per cent" of the potential capacity of Brisbane CBD rooftops to collect solar energy is now being used.
As an example - if solar panels were better used in Brisbane's CBD roof tops – and 45 per cent of rooftops collected solar energy - then around $30 million could be shaved from electricity bills.
Those extra rooftops could also generate around 11 per cent of the electricity demand in the Brisbane CBD.
Dr Anna Bruce, from UNSW's School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering said after the boom in "residential solar" in the recent past, small to larger businesses were now examining cost savings from "localised" solar generating systems - ie on business rooftops.
Larger shopping centres in SEQ and the Brisbane Markets at Rocklea already have large local generators (over 1 megawatt) in place.
"One of the benefits - longer-term - will be that by generating more electricity locally, we will not need as much capacity in our transmission and distribution network, our electricity grid," Dr Bruce said.
"So that would then save costs - and for a residential customer - the network changes are about half the bill."
Dr Bruce said researchers wanted to speak to the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council about ways their research could help Queensland approach its ambitious target of having 50 per cent of its energy generated by renewable energy by 2030.
"They have yet finalised how they are actually going to be meeting this (target), but that may be one of those areas that they might be interested in "
Dr Bruce said in New South Wales, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Town Hall and tens of IKEA stores were leading the way in commercial solar.
"Businesses that are short of roof space are looking at investing in renewable energy projects off-site," she said.
"That's not for sustainability reasons alone. It's because they are able to save money."
She said commercial businesses in city CBD's had "high-daytime yields" that "perfectly matched" solar energy collection; daytime air-conditioning, inside lighting and lifts.
Dr Bruce said the three buildings they chose in Brisbane CBD to investigate – Suncorp Stadium , QPAC, and Roma Street Station – were chosen simply because they would "capture the public imagination."
They are all owned by the Queensland Government.
In September Queensland's Energy Minister Mark Bailey confirmed the government wanted solar panels placed on the roofs of some Queensland Government buildings.
On Monday, Mr Bailey's media spokesperson said they could not answer questions on a public holiday.
Meanwhile, Dr Bruce said it was solar PV cells were not badly damaged by hail because it was one of the tests they went by all manufacturers.
"When you look at media reports into where there have been large hail-storms there is virtually no reported of PV cells with damage being done to them."
Dr Bruce said Queensland had a "much more diverse mix of energy generators" than South Australia.
She said people should not view the September 2016 South Australian blackout – when two tornadoes knocked out 23 pylons on four interconnectors, with 80,000 lightning strikes across the state as "something linked to solar energy".
"I think the consensus there is that it would just not make any difference what sort of electricity generators were connected at the time in South Australia," she said.
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