Industrial Company Goes Off-Grid Due to High Connection Costs
Instant Products, a business based in Western Australia, faced a staggering quote of $117,000 to connect a single-phase, 63 amp power line to a new building site located north of Perth. Managing director Scott Rawson was taken aback by this figure, which did not account for the additional $3,000 he had already spent on the quote, nor the “hundreds of thousands” required to upgrade the connection to the 120-160 amps necessary for the industrial site. After enduring eight years of various permitting and environmental processes, Rawson decided enough was enough.
“I turned around and thought this is completely pointless, I’m not going to line their [grid operator Western Power’s] pockets with that amount of money, I’m going to stay off grid,” he shared with Renew Economy.
Going Off-Grid
Rather than connecting to the grid, Instant Products has opted to install solar panels on the ground and rooftops of their warehouse, along with a battery system to power the entire site independently. The specifics of the battery sizes are still to be determined.
Rawson explained that the company purchased the 97-hectare site in Muchea after outgrowing its previous five-acre location in an industrial park in Wangara, situated slightly to the south.
A Thoughtful Decision
However, this decision to go off-grid was not made lightly. Rawson’s company produces portable toilets, shipping containers, and portable offices, and includes a battery manufacturer among its clients. Previously, they had installed solar lighting at their Wangara headquarters after becoming frustrated with the lengthy process of upgrading their grid connection.
“We had applied for the power upgrade [at Wangara]. It was a two-year process, very expensive at about $100,000, and we’re in an industrial area there already, so it was a joke,” Rawson recounted. “We were getting nowhere. We’d paid all the money and I had to write to the minister’s office to magically get our power upgrade, two months after.”
His experience with solar lighting, provided by Green Frog Systems, which offers solar-powered lights with small, long-lasting batteries, proved to be a significant success. The battery supplier, Battery Energy, manufactures containerised batteries and serves clients such as Telstra and the Department of Defence.
“The roof will give us enough surface area for the solar, so the key for us will be the battery storage,” Rawson noted. “Having them as clients and seeing what they’re doing, having designed and built that sort of stuff, I thought there is absolutely no need to be on grid.”
High Initial Costs
While Rawson’s decision to establish an entirely off-grid industrial site stemmed partly from the shock of high costs, he acknowledged that the initial investment is still considerable, despite the long-term savings from eliminating utility bills. “At Wangara, our yards are lit 24 hours a day and we’ve got no other bills,” he stated.
“But it’s a big capital outlay and what incentives are we getting? We may get a grant if we’re lucky, but it’s not like residential customers who are getting rebates; we get nothing. You have all these factory roofs [which could be converted to solar], yet it has to come out of our own pockets.”
Challenges in the Commercial Sector
The commercial and industrial sectors have long been a focus for advocates of solar and battery energy solutions. However, the substantial capital costs, potential structural issues from retrofitting, and the challenges of connecting to the grid when adding a multi-megawatt load complicate the situation further.
Many clean energy advocates believe that these challenges could be addressed by creating a targeted version of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. A proposal from the Clean Energy Council suggested that this scheme could apply to minimum solar installations, allowing businesses that install more to earn certificates that can be sold to those unable to meet the minimum requirements.
