Australia: New warehouse in Melbourne will use solar power

Bushfires, floods and an ever worsening outlook for Australia's nature – this gloomy picture is confirmed by the latest State of the Environment Report. Therefore, a. hartrodt is expanding its warehouse capacities Down Under in a climate-friendly way. "In mid-2024, we will move into our own new warehouse in Melbourne and we will install another solar system there," announces Dirk Haarhaus, Regional Director Oceania at a. hartrodt in Sydney. Since the acquisition of OTS, a. hartrodt has had two warehouses in Melbourne totalling 9,000 square metres, which will be consolidated into 12,000 square metres.

Solar system provides almost half of the necessary energy

Photovoltaic modules will be installed on the roof of the building, which was purchased at the end of July, in order to generate around 45 per cent of required energy through solar power in the future. "Besides a reduced carbon footprint, customers will benefit from attractive prices for warehouse logistics," Dirk Haarhaus emphasises. In addition, the warehouse and offices will be equipped with energy-efficient LED lighting, and the outdoor facilities will be irrigated with rainwater tanks.

Refrigerated area is supplied by public electricity at night

For a. hartrodt's 7,000-square-metre warehouse in Sydney, a 99.54-kilowatt solar system has already been supplying 41.71 per cent of the energy since March 2019. "During the day, the system produces more than we consume and feeds it into the grid," Dirk Haarhaus reports. At night, the refrigerated warehouse is connected to the public grid. In Melbourne, there are also plans for chilled areas with a temperature of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius for the airfreight export of dairy products. In addition, there are zones with ambient temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees for food imports/exports. Depending on the size of the refrigerated rooms and technology in the new warehouse, Dirk Haarhaus considers up to 50 per cent self-generated energy to be realistic.

In the medium term, Dirk Haarhaus would like to use battery storage to power warehouses at night. Initially, he plans to "double" the solar capacity in Australia. In Brisbane, a. hartrodt operates a 1,100-square-metre warehouse, which is also to be replaced by a new, larger facility in the near future.