Stockland has unveiled a strategic collaboration with Energy Bay to revolutionise energy management across its extensive property portfolio.
The portfolio comprises more than 50 buildings and featuring over 50 megawatts peak (MWp) of solar energy generated on rooftops.
In a groundbreaking move, Stockland is employing inter-asset energy trading, enabling surplus renewable energy from logistics assets to be directed for use in other commercial buildings and land lease communities.
Tarun Gupta, Stockland’s Managing Director and CEO, highlighted the innovation, anticipating a substantial contribution to achieving the company’s net zero scope 2 emissions target by 2025.
“The partnership with Energy Bay is a significant step towards our transition to a low carbon future using innovative, scalable, and economically sustainable solutions,” Gupta said.
Energy Bay will acquire Stockland’s existing 17 MWp of solar panels, mainly located at town centres, and install an additional 34MWp of solar infrastructure across Stockland’s assets by 2025.
Emlyn Keane, Stockland’s Executive General Manager, Workplace, underscored the market-leading scheme to trade solar energy among Stockland assets, emphasising its potential to unlock abundant roof space for trading excess energy within the Stockland Group.
“The partnership allows us to use our own rooftops rather than requiring additional land for solar farms and avoids the premium cost of renewable energy power purchasing agreements,” Keane said.
“The base power demands of logistics assets are low, allowing our town centres and workplaces to draw on the renewable energy generated on these rooftops to offset their consumption, which is typically higher.”
Stockland will receive an upfront payment from Energy Bay for existing solar panels and generate recurring income by licensing retail and logistics roof space to support solar panel infrastructure across the country.
Under the agreement, Energy Bay will license available roof space from Stockland for 30 years, operating and maintaining embedded networks and managing and selling energy services. Stockland will purchase energy from Energy Bay for 15 years.
James Doyle, Energy Bay’s CEO, stressed the environmental benefits and cost-effectiveness of the initiative, estimating an annual reduction of approximately 50,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions once more than 50 MWp of solar PV is installed.
As the partnership advances, Stockland plans to involve tenants across its property portfolio, exploring opportunities to drive down emissions and assist in reducing scope 3 emissions.
Plans are also underway for future battery storage to optimize renewable energy utilisation.