Changing gears towards a better energy future

“Car dealerships are very energy hungry,” said Alto Group Managing Director, Anthony Altomonte.

“We’ve got bright showroom lights, air-conditioning running to keep them comfortable, and our workshops operate from Monday to Friday."

However, the Alto Group didn’t only want to reduce costs. They were looking for an energy solution that would be efficient and sustainable. The answer? Solar.

The power of sunshine

Solar panels on roofs are now a familiar sight in Australia. Second to Africa, Australia is the sunniest continent on Earth, so it's understandable why more Aussie businesses are opting to harness the sun’s energy.

Solar panels, generally made using silicon, draw sunlight which is then converted into energy to power just about everything that plugs into an electrical socket.

The benefits? Solar is a renewable energy source, so it doesn’t produce any direct greenhouse gas emissions, which can help to reduce your carbon footprint. The electricity generated from your panels directly powers your business, and any excess energy can be fed back into the grid. 

We've been providing cost-effective, renewable energy solutions to businesses for a while, so when the Alto Group approached us to help, we immediately swung into action.

After meeting with Anthony to determine his requirements, the team installed 506 kW of solar panel systems across seven of their Sydney-based sites.

As a result, the Alto Group saved almost $140,000 in energy costs over seven years.¹

LED there be light

To reduce costs associated with keeping the lights on, we replaced hundreds of halogen lights with energy-efficient LED bulbs throughout the Alto Group's showrooms. Businesses like car dealerships rely on great lighting to create a comfortable work environment for staff and an enjoyable customer experience.

LED lights use about 75% less energy than halogen lights – and produce the same amount of light – so this was another quick and easy way for the Alto Group to reduce their consumption. 

Upping the efficiency

We installed Power Factor Correction (PFC) equipment to improve the electrical efficiency of tools and machinery the Alto Group use onsite.

Power factor is the measure of how effectively your business equipment uses electricity. Large businesses get charged for the demand they place on the grid. Improving your power factor and correcting any inefficiencies with your equipment can reduce these charges.

An investment that’s paying off

Switching to renewable energy solutions might seem like quite an investment at the outset, but it can pay off in the long term. The Alto Group's $500,000 solar investment has returned financial and environmental benefits.

“Cost has always been an issue in the auto industry, which has high turnover and tight margins, but it’s a greater issue now,” Anthony explains. “Everybody wants to be environmentally friendly – as long as they don’t have to pay for it, but we recognised that if we can keep costs down, it makes us more sustainable.”

By switching to solar, LED and power factor correction equipment, the Alto Group will reduce their energy usage by 20% per year.²

That means they've offset their greenhouse gas emissions by around 700 tonnes yearly.³

“Businesses across a range of industries can not only enjoy the financial rewards of solar, but also the environmental benefits. By drawing less power from the grid and using energy more efficiently, they can reduce their carbon emissions,” Brendan Weinert, AGL’s Head of Business Energy Solutions’ said on completion of the project.

We know many of our customers feel the same way about shaping a more sustainable future. Now’s the time for us all to responsibly manage our environmental footprint, with customers like Alto Group leading the way.

¹This is an estimate of the difference in energy costs payable by the customer over the relevant period, before and after installation of the solar system. This estimate is based on various assumptions at the time of AGL’s proposal, including in relation to the customer’s annual energy consumption at the premises, modelled solar energy generation and export at the premises, the customer’s retail tariff structure and feed-in tariff, and the value of environmental credits.

²This is an estimate based on AGL’s understanding of the customer’s annual energy consumption at the premises at the time of proposal and AGL’s modelling of the solar system’s expected annual energy output at the premises at the time of proposal, taking into account predicted export to the grid.

³This is an estimate based on AGL’s modelling of the solar system’s expected annual energy output at the premises at the time of proposal, converted using the relevant National Greenhouse Account Factor for scope 2 emissions at the time of proposal.