Sector: Sports and leisure
Address: 97 Glenroy Rd, Glenroy VIC 3046
Environmental Upgrade: 86kW solar system
Energy savings: $20,000 per year
Sustainability: 121,464.72 kgs of CO2 in year one

Problem:

The Northern Golf Club in Glenroy has been going strong since 1912. When its 1,000+ members aren’t putting their way through the green, the challenging course plays host to some of Australia’s major tournaments, including the Southern PGA Tour and National Legends PGA Tour.

When your club has over 100 years of heritage, it’s bound to be time to refurbish. With the old clubhouse looking a bit tired and run-down, the team planned to build a new one, with the added bonus of solar panels.

Solution:

When they crunched the numbers, the team at Northern Golf Club discovered they used $50,000 worth of power per year, across their clubhouse and pro shop. Club Chairman, Michael Leydon, knew that they could do better.

“We determined that with the right size of solar, we could eliminate at least half of our energy bills,” he said.

Process:

With their plan to switch to solar in the works, Northern Golf Club turned to their local council, City of Moreland, to find out what resources were available to them. As a council that offers Upgrade Finance, the club soon learned how we could help them finance their new solar panels.

“The interest rates were attractive, the payment structure through council rates was attractive, and it looked like an easy way to get this upgrade and save us money in the long run,” Michael said. “And the finance process was seamless.”

With funding enabled by Moreland Council, the club worked with Solargain to install 86kW worth of solar panels on the roof of their clubhouse.

Jusuf Tekesic, an Energy Consultant at Solargain, said there’s no better time than the present to install solar.

“With the increasing energy prices it makes more sense today than it did a few years ago,” he said. “It’s a long-term investment, but it can ultimately reduce your energy usage, carbon footprint and costs.”

Outcome:

From the moment they switched their solar panels on, the club was operating at a cash flow positive rate. After the money set aside for their loan repayments, they are now set to save $20,000 a year.

They were also delighted to find that their solar panels have completely eliminated their daytime energy consumption from non-renewable sources of electricity. They are estimated to save over 121,400kgs of CO2 in their first year of solar power.

“There’s still some night-time and early morning usage, which we want to fix with batteries as soon as they are considered viable,” Michael said.

Michael also had this advice to offer businesses looking to make the switch to solar:

“Do your homework. Do the calculations around your power usage and pick the right installer for the job. And go for it; it’s saved the club a lot of money.”