Australian smallgoods giant to slash grid consumption with 3.2MW solar system

Australia’s largest manufacturer of ham, bacon, salami and deli meats, Primo Smallgoods, is set to begin installation of one of Australia’s largest commercial solar systems – a 3.2MW rooftop array at its processing plant in the Brisbane suburb of Wacol.

After engaging Solar Choice to act as tender manager for the project in 2016, the impressive rooftop solar is being installed by CleanPeak Energy and Todae Solar.

It will cover around 75 per cent of the Primo Wacol facility’s roof – around 25,000 square meters – and is expected to cut Primo’s grid power usage by 19 per cent. Primo engaged Solar Choice to act as tender manager for the project in 2016.

This puts among some of the nation’s biggest commercial rooftop solar projects, including the 3MW system installed at Sydney Markets – which is likely to be expanded further – and the 2.5MW planned for the newly renovated South Australian Produce Market, which is being paired with a 4.2MWh Tesla battery pack.

The Primo solar system is expected to generate 4,869MWh of power in its first year – the quivalent of powering 20,032 homes for one year.

Primo COO Bruce Sabatta said that on top of slashing the company’s use of expensive grid power, investing in solar was aligned with the 2020 sustainability targets of parent company JBS Australia.

JBS – Australia’s largest meat and food processing company, with five feedlots across Queensland and NSW and 10 processing facilities nation-wide – has undertaken a range of other sustainable practices, from water consumption, biogas recovery, greenhouse gas reduction, and waste recycling.

“As part of the JBS business, Primo has a part to play in the reduction of our environmental impact in Australia,” Sabatta said in comments on Thursday.

“With our new solar panel installation in place, we will use the power generated from the solar panels instead of solely relying on power from the electricity grid.

“We are making significant investments in energy efficiency to lower our carbon footprint and to continue to improve our efficiency leadership position in the industry,” Sabatta said.