The biggest star of all will illuminate the stages of the Sydney Theatre Company. An array of 1,906 solar panels on the roof of the Wharf on Sydney Harbour were switched on by the company's artistic director actress Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton this week.
The rooftop solar power system is the second largest in Australia and will produce enough energy to power 46 average homes. It will provide up to 70 per cent of the company's power supply.
The solar initiative is part of the company's ‘greening’ the Wharf program and is funded by the federal and NSW governments and The Shi's Family Foundation.
The project was financed a $2 million donation from a foundation established by Suntech's CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, which also supplied the panels used at the Wharf. He feels solar energy should be respected. "This project demonstrates that anyone today can look up and harness nature's original source of energy and life," he said.
Sydney Theatre Company Solar Array. Photo by Grant Sparkes-Carroll. (PRNewsFoto/Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., Grant Sparkes-Carroll)
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Suntech Pluto monocrystalline cells have achieved over 19% conversion efficiency in commercial production, and the advanced cell technology set two new world records for module conversion efficiency. "Twenty years ago, while performing solar research at the University of New South Wales, few people believed that solar technology could ever power a building such as The Wharf," says Dr. Shi.
After flipping a symbolic two-metre tall timber light switch, Blanchett said powering the company's heritage building with the sun was about more than generating electricity.
It's about bringing the building into the 21st century, she said. "We were looking to reconnect the company to the city and we were looking to make it cutting edge again," Blanchett said.
With climate change an issue close to their hearts, the directors said the arts needed to address the issues faced by society, including global warming.
"If theatre doesn't engage with the big issues that face human beings and society generally, then it very quickly becomes irrelevant," Blanchett said.
"I think it's the arts' role absolutely to be a place where ideas are disseminated and discussed and thrown around and I think that, in terms of leading change, we are content providers, we're innovators, that's what we do as a sector.Hopefully [we can] inspire people to demand panels and it will reduce the cost of the panels."
Upton said the solar panels were a "gesture" to Sydney. "I think we both sensed that this roof above our heads was a real resource because it is out there in the open and it is a very public roof ... it's a really key part of the city, on the harbour," he said.
In addition to the solar power system, The Wharf will integrate a streamlined waste recycling system and a rainwater harvesting system to meet all of the facility's non-potable water requirements.
Commercial scale rooftop solar farms are gradually becoming commonplace in Australia. Recently, national solar power solutions provider Energy Matters installed a 200kW solar array for Johnson & Johnson Medical.
Suntech invests several million dollars each year in collaborations with leading Australian solar research institutions, including UNSW and Swinburne University of Technology. According to the company, Suntech nearly doubled its global R&D investments from US$15 million to US$29 million in 2009.