Working with Siemens we have installed the biggest solar array in metropolitan Melbourne at the Melbourne Museum. This solar PV array is part of a complex multi-site solar installation that we delivered and helps Museums Victoria progress towards a clean energy and sustainable future as the state-owned cultural institution.
Museums Victoria was the end client and Siemens was our client in this project. Museums Victoria is the largest public museum organisation in Australia and attracts approximately 2.5 million visitors each year across landmark buildings including Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks, Immigration Museum, and the Royal Exhibition Building, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in 1880.
Overall the solar project will help Museums Victoria save over 1,900 tonnes of CO2 per year.
To view the video case study for this project, click
here.
Autonomous Energy solution
- Our team delivered over 1MW (1,083 kW) of solar across four iconic sites - including 533kW at Melbourne Museum, which is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere. Upon completion this represents the largest solar array in Melbourne's CBD.
- High quality engineering solutions and construction methodologies were required due to the complex nature of the Museum’s sites.
- The Melbourne Museum site is surrounded by underground car parks - which made traditional methods of lifting solar panels onto roofs - such as using cranes - unsuitable. Hence the project kicked off with a series of helicopter lifts - a rare event above Melbourne's CBD. Eighty airlifts over 2 weekends saw helicopters transport 1,350 solar panels from the grounds of Carlton Gardens precinct to the roof of Melbourne Museum.
- The process signalled the start of installing over 2,700 solar panels across four of Museums Victoria’s iconic sites. The multi-site project included Melbourne Museum (1,350 panels; 533kW capacity); Scienceworks (938 panels; 378 kW capacity); Moreland Annex (435 panels; 172kW capacity) and Simcock Ave (20 panels).
- The Melbourne Museum has unique and complex energy requirements. The site requires very reliable energy systems which work continuously to ensure the valuable collections housed there are kept safe. As part of our delivery, we minimised disruption to the Museum's energy supply.
- Across the four sites this solar project is expected to deliver a reduction of approx 1,900 tonnes CO2 per year; and power the equivalent of 290 houses per year.
What Siemens Australia says
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By working on this project, we are directly contributing to the Museum's energy savings - which saves tax payers' money and means there's less energy required to be generated by power stations.
- Greg Aldridge, Project Manager, Siemens Australia