New property development has expanded our sprawling cities. Quaint suburbs have been sub-divided into units and town houses. High rise apartment living is dotting the skyline. It should be no surprise that infrastructure struggles to keep pace.
SGS Economics & Planning economist Terry Rawnsley’s view is that high density living needs to be more strategic, with growth focused in clusters of activity centres, where infrastructure and shopping already exist.
With this in mind, cost and environmental & social impact are key considerations when it comes to energy supply to high density property. Areas owners should focus on are:
Contract Negotiation
Traditionally, the building owner has only been responsible for public lighting and power. This can be very low energy usage, for example hallway lighting. Property managers have learnt that tendering a volume of properties together is of more interest to an electricity retailer and use this buying power to negotiate lower rates.
Dedicated shopping centres and high density living are now typically supplied through what is called an “embedded network”. Under this structure there is one supply point from the electricity grid servicing the whole facility. This is supported by an internal network with tenant metering, which is managed and billed by the owner’s agent. With the electricity use of public facilities and tenants combined, the owner is effectively now a large energy consumer, which provides buying power for negotiation. There have been concerns over the rights of the tenant under this structure, which have been addressed through the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Power of Choice legislation. This legislation enables a tenant to opt out of their embedded network’s retail supply agreement by installing a second meter and contracting directly with an electricity retailer, though this can be cumbersome to put into practice.
Network Tariff Optimisation
Network Operators charge customers for providing and maintaining the infrastructure (poles and wires) that allows distribution of electricity to their property. These charges (tariffs) can be structured in many ways, for example, single or time of use rates for kWh’s used, kW or kVA demand rates for the highest demand value over a particular time period and or a daily supply charge. For large electricity users the charges are itemised, but for small users, they are bundled together with retail and government charges. As tenancy and energy usage changes at a property, a network tariff optimisation review is recommended to ensure that the lowest cost option is maintained. The network operators review tariff rates every financial year. Therefore, it is recommended to review network tariff at least annually as this has proved to reduce electricity bills for some customer by thousands.
Energy Management
Many new facilities install a building management system (BMS) which automatically monitors and controls many things, such as room temperatures within set points by time, water temperatures at set points by time, light levels based on ambient light, movement and time. Where faults are detected they can also automatically determine the problem, create maintenance jobs and schedule a contractor to attend. Buildings that do not have a BMS can install a simpler Energy Management System (EMS), which enables circuit level and power point monitoring and control. This can also significantly reduce electricity bills by turning equipment off when not in use, controlling set points for heating and cooling, as well as timing equipment use to lower cost charging periods - coinciding use for example, with solar generation or off-peak tariffs. Being smarter about how and when electricity is used can significantly reduce costs.
Heat and Cooling
Significant advances have been made in the energy efficiency of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC), particularly gas and heat pump systems. Entry points and windows are typical areas of focus for reducing a building’s areas for energy loss or transfer. Many buildings now have automatic and self-closing doors. Windows can be double or triple glazed and thermally broken (isolated). For a lower cost option, owners have installed window tinting. More recently, a Japanese nanotechnology has been introduced into Australia at a comparable cost to tint. This is a clear coating, painted onto glass and bonds at a molecular level. It blocks infrared radiation and UV radiation, but is transparent and does not impact the view or the window appearance.
Lighting
An LED lighting retrofit can immediately reduce lighting costs by up to 80%. In several states, government incentives are in place to reduce the cost. This is a quick win for lighting cost savings, with typical payback periods ranging from 6 months to 2 years.
Smart LED lighting is new technology that has recently been introduced to Australia for commercial premises. This brings further benefits to an LED install as light levels (lux) can be automatically varied for one, or many grouped lights, based on the environment, motion detection and time of day. This technology also brings added benefits, for example fault detection alerts and reports on high or low traffic areas in a facility.
Car Parking
With 2.1 million electric vehicles sold globally in 2018 the move to electric vehicles seems inevitable. Though not quite as fast to adopt this technology in Australia, installation of charging stations is attractive to tenants and will become a necessity in the future. Many shopping centres have already invested in this technology, offering free charging to incentivise longer time spent in the centre.
Technology already works seamlessly with charging stations, with mobile apps and car navigation systems showing drivers available spaces to top up at. They also enable an owner to monitor the performance and use of their fleet of chargers and charge a fee for usage. In the not too distant future, bi-directional charging stations will be rolled out, where car batteries can be utilised on site to reduce grid demand.
An energy saving measure for underground car parking areas is to install carbon monoxide detectors where ventilation systems are in use. The detectors work to moderate the use of the ventilation fans based on CO2 levels. Recently, a car park in Melbourne upgraded their system and reduced their energy usage by 92%.
Solar
The reduced cost of solar products and rising cost of electricity makes the business case for solar installation very appealing. The residential space in Australia has already seem a significant uptake. Many big businesses have signed power purchase agreements with large scale solar farms to offset their carbon footprint. As well as generous federal incentives, there are now many installation and finance options available to further improve the business case for owners. For example, low interest loans, rental agreements and power purchase agreements are all available. Infrastructure can also be setup to monitor and bill tenants for their use of solar generated power. Of course, the business case is also improving for investment in solar combined with battery technology to further remove dependency on the grid.
Conclusion
With uncertainty over grid supply, all of these solutions should be considered in parallel and delivered through a comprehensive implementation strategy. Empower are an independent energy consultancy, who specialise in assisting Australian businesses to tailor an energy strategy that utilises buying power to keep costs low and make investment decisions that reduce risk and provide optimal returns.