Manufacturing News

Cleaning equipment manufacturer leads City of Melbourne’s solar city drive

Commercial cleaning equipment manufacturer Polivac is leading the City of Melbourne’s solar city drive by installing a solar power system at their facility in Kensington.

The City of Melbourne has a sunny vision for reducing carbon emissions from commerce and industry. Solar Melbourne kicked off with a discovery session at the premises of Polivac, a local Kensington business that has gone solar and is enjoying the benefits.

Polivac Managing Director Tony Antonious says the system would be fully paid off in three and a half years, but they will be reaping its benefits for the next 20 years.

He explained that he was inspired to go solar after visiting Europe for trade shows and seeing solar on every roof. Given that energy consumption is such a big cost in Australia, he wonders why more people don’t install solar as it just makes business sense.

Mr Antonious has been an advocate for solar power since converting his building in 2013 and he is not alone. Polivac staff Ray Butterfield, who is in charge of operations says all the houses in his street have solar. He adds that Polivac is running electric motors all day right when the sun is shining, so they are using the power at its production peak during the day.

Mr Antonious was very happy to meet Councillor Arron Wood who himself lives in Kensington and has solar on his own home. The two community leaders hit it off immediately and Mr Antonious took Cr. Wood up to the roof for a closer look at the 20kW installation.

Many businesses are interested in solar, but just need access to the right information. That’s why the City of Melbourne is developing clear information and connecting business leaders so they can learn about the business case for solar directly from each other as well as receive financing from the Sustainable Melbourne Fund, which offers loans at attractive terms to businesses installing solar. 

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