Millions of homeowners enjoy the benefits of solar, now apartment residents can too!

Allume, an Australian company, has developed patented electricity distribution technology called SolShare. SolShare shares solar electricity between residents in multi-metered buildings, delivering cheap, clean power without the need to alter standard metering infrastructure.

According to Allume, apartment residents enjoy an average of 40% savings on their electricity bills with paybacks of around five years. SolShare can also incorporate a shared battery system.

Next steps

1. Share this information with your neighbours.
2. Determine the common property’s electricity usage. Now is a good time to seek common property energy savings. Wattblock provides free online energy efficiency audits for owners corporations.
3. Collect electricity bills from a range of apartments to gauge electricity consumption.
4. Determine available roof space and structural capacity.
5. As a guide, allocate each one or two-bedroom apartment ten square metres of roof space (five 350w panels) and each three bedroom apartment fourteen square metres (seven 350w panels). That said, as we electrify our households and as solar is such great value, it’s best to use all available roof space. If your block has insufficient roof space, solar can always be installed to service just the common property. This would not require SolShare. See Solar My House and Solar My Business for more information.
6. Obtain quotes from Energus and Arc Renewables, both certified Allume installers.
7. Compare payment options: pay up-front (via sinking fund or special levy), take out a strata loan or enter into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with a provider such as Locality Energy. PPAs are similar to “rent to buy”.
8. Draft a special resolution seeking 75% approval at your next AGM or call an EGM.
9. If some owners opt out and the installation is paid for by individuals not the owners corporation, those going ahead will require a bylaw granting them exclusive use of the common property roof. In this instance, the common property electricity would not be connected to solar. Premier Berejiklian has said her government plans to lower the voting threshold to 50% for solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicle charging points in strata buildings, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the numbers now.

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