It is estimated that twelve separate entities control around 60 per cent of office accommodation in the City of Sydney, hence, the uptake of commerciallyviable green technologies will make a real impact on emissions for this sector.

As this electricity is generated in North Sydney's central business district and shared into the grid locally, energy is not lost via the high-voltage transmission network.

Saving in Sydney

According to Origin, Coca-Cola Place and Deutsche Bank Place – located just across Sydney Harbour from one another – are significantly shrinking their carbon footprints, saving around 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year between the two buildings.

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Two Energy Service Agreements allow Investa to purchase electricity, hot water and chilled water from Origin's distributed generation company, Cogent, as well as top-up, peak and off-peak electricity for both sites.

With Origin's Cogent power, a 'virtual private energy network' is overlaid with the Ausgrid network to balance energy demand between the two buildings. This solution, according to Origin, will enable the trigeneration plant at Coca-Cola Place to operate at maximum efficiency all year round, while taking advantage of Sydney’s mild climate.

A triumph of trigeneration

The trigeneration system deployed at Coca-Cola Place uses natural gas to produce electricity on-site, as well as heating and cooling for the building.

"We can power a super-efficient building with lower emissions electricity, while at the same time heating and cooling it with the waste heat that would normally go up a coal fired power stations’ smoke stack. In addition, further benefits flow from the ability to export excess electricity to the grid," said Craig Roussac, General Manager of Sustainability, Safety and Environment at Investa.

"It is the first step to building a trigeneration energy network for the city centre that will reduce carbon pollution and increase efficiency, for city businesses," said Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, “delivering a more efficient way to generate power, heat and cooling at the source.”