Wednesday 1 July 2020

Melbourne powers uni campuses, chocolate bars and road surfaces with 100% renewables

Office blocks, shopping centres, university campuses, chocolate bars and road surfaces in Melbourne will soon be powered by 100% renewable energy.

This is part of a new power purchase agreement for businesses across the city, which was signed by Melbourne's local authority and the Australian energy provider Tango Energy to accelerate the green transition of the area.

It is expected to provide 14 shopping centres, nine office buildings, seven educational campuses and four manufacturing facilities, including a Mondelez chocolate factory, with 110GWh of renewable electricity for ten years.

The purchased power will be produced by wind projects located in the region of Victoria - it will be enough to power the equivalent of more than 22,000 households a year.

The project is also estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 123,000 tonnes every year, the equivalent of taking nearly 28,000 cars off the road every year.

Arron Wood, Mayor of the City of Melbourne, said: "We believe in the power of coming together. The city of Melbourne brought together a group of large energy users who are committed to switching to renewable energy and reducing Melbourne's emissions."