Working towards greater sustainable outcomes and reducing its CO2 output, Mount Lilydale Mercy College has taken the leap to upgrade its solar power system.
Founded in 1896 and serving the needs of more than 1500 students, the College recognises the importance of sustainable practices—not only for its future but for the environment.
As part of Mount Lilydale Mercy College’s commitment to sustainability in the learning environment, the school has installed water tanks for recycled water use, rolled out waste recycling upgrades, and expanded green spaces.
In recognition of these recent efforts, the College has achieved a five-star rating from the ResourceSmart Schools Awards by Sustainability Victoria and was awarded the title of 2024 Secondary School Winner in the Community Leadership School 2024 – Fostering Responsible, Community-Oriented Citizens category.
With a primary goal to reduce daytime power consumption and offset carbon emissions, Mount Lilydale Mercy College partnered with Solahart Eastern Ranges to upgrade its existing solar infrastructure.
Being a family-owned and operated business, the team at Solahart Eastern Ranges are passionate about supporting the local community and were delighted to help Mount Lilydale Mercy College on its journey to a more sustainable future.
As part of its pledge to green solutions and building an energy-conscious cohort, the College enlisted Solahart Eastern Ranges’s expertise to explore efficient ways to monitor the school’s energy usage and report to the Sustainability Victoria ResourceSmart Schools Program.
“Our College has been working towards becoming more sustainable with initiatives such as building outdoor learning spaces, reducing waste and water usage, and creating more green spaces with our annual tree-planting day,” Mount Lilydale Mercy College’s assistant business manager Cathy Pote said.
“In partnership with Yarra Valley Water and Yarra Ranges Council, the students have been actively involved in a regeneration program to revive the natural ecosystem on the College’s leased sports ground, including indigenous vegetation, to increase native wildlife.
“Given our energy consumption as a large College, we knew monitoring our usage and creating better energy efficiency was important, which is why Solahart was the clear choice as a partner.
“As well as upgrading our solar power, Solahart Eastern Ranges consulted on how we could monitor the patterns and peaks in our usage to conserve energy and identify waste.”
With an existing solar power (PV) system, the College wanted to bolster its capacity and explore options for upgrading. Solahart Eastern Ranges began with a full audit of the current PV setup before providing recommendations.
However, with the College comprising 14 separate buildings, the team needed to take into consideration operations across two separate electrical main feeds. This meant a large-scale solution would be required.
The team installed an additional 167 Solahart SunCell® panels paired with GoodWe three phase Inverters, to bring each system to 99kW capacity, resulting in 198kW of solar power across the campus.
To complement the solar upgrade, Solahart Eastern Ranges collaborated with Combined Energy to design a comprehensive energy management system to further support the College’s focus on sustainability.
Providing real-time energy monitoring and cost-saving insights, the solution would support the College’s reporting needs for Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart Schools Program.
Keeping these unique requirements in mind, Solahart undertook one of the largest energy management system installations in Australia and the largest Combined Energy installation ever undertaken with 14 Power Meters installed on a single site.
“This project required a robust energy management system. The Combined Energy solution is simple, efficient and smart, and will allow Mount Lilydale Mercy College to monitor the grid and its solar energy usage in real time,” Solahart Eastern Ranges’ general manager Mark Baker said.
“Smart energy management is fundamental in the move towards a renewable future as no amount of solar will save you money at nighttime without supporting technology. Resources, such as energy management systems, are designed to complement renewable energy and maximise efficiencies.
“With the right tools, the College will be able to further improve its savings by identifying where energy is being used. Armed with accurate information, Mount Lilydale Mercy College can now focus on educating staff and students about the impact they can make with small changes in behaviour.
“It’s been fantastic to see how the College has adopted this technology to not only save costs but also to teach students the importance of energy conservation and how we can all play a part in this.”
Mount Lilydale Mercy College has seen substantial cost and carbon emission savings since switching to solar and installing an energy management system.
With an additional 75 kW of Solar PV installed, the College is set to achieve anticipated combined savings of $21,475 and 77 tonnes of CO2 in the first year.
Ms Pote, explained that the College is exploring ways to integrate the new energy management system into the school’s curriculum.
“We couldn’t be happier with this project and the seamless experience with Solahart Eastern Ranges. Incorporating this new technology provides students with first-hand experience of the benefits of renewable energy,” she said.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability, we are excited to engage students in learning about energy consumption strategies using the monthly energy management system reports. We also look forward to growing our energy efficiency potential with the installation of additional PV panels in the coming years.”
