June 20, 2019
Based in Wingfield, in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, Castech installed 368 solar panels rated at 270 watts on its factory roof-top last June and it has been progressively reducing its power bill by around $3,000 a month ever since. This could save the business up to $36,000 annually in energy costs. The panels are also providing a renewable energy feed of 14,000kWh to Castech’s foundry and Castech 3D, its additive manufacturing spin-off business. Recent increases in SA’s electricity pricing has had a large impact upon the state’s commercial businesses and Castech was faced with a 64% increase in supply charges, prior to installing the solar panels. To counteract these rising power costs, Castech’s Quality Manager Brad Walsh says that the panels were installed to cut the massive power bills that the foundry generates and to provide the plant with emission-free energy. “The panels will never provide the amount of power that we need to run the foundry’s induction furnaces from 7.30am to…