Innovative carpark installation at Fairy Meadow Woolies could be rolled out across the country

A tiny but mighty business operating out of Mittagong plans to take over carparks across the country – starting with Fairy Meadow Woolworths.

Canyon Solar makes carpark shade structures out of solar panels, a boon to big businesses who want to reduce their emissions and cut power costs.

Founder Will Beaumont said for comapanies like Woolworths it could be difficult to install rooftop solar. They’re often in shared, rented premises.

Fairy Meadow Woolworths does have rooftop solar, however it only offsets about eight per cent of its total energy costs.

“Woolworths consumes one per cent of all of Australia’s electricity, which makes sense when you think about the amount of refrigeration, freezers and air conditioning they have to run,” Will said.

“They’ve got a goal of net zero energy consumption by 2050, but it’s going to be hard to get there with rooftop solar alone.

“There’s usually about twice as much space available in the carpark, and it’s easier to get landlord approval.”

The panels also minimise the cost of installing electric vehicle chargers, as DC fast chargers can be installed in the canopy’s support columns.

A shady park and convenient vehicle charging is a smart strategy for attracting and retaining customers.

“The biggest determinant of where people charge their car is convenience,” Will said.

“Charging your car while you shop is one of the most convenient places to charge aside from at home. Businesses know if they invest in customer experience they can get a return on that.”

Will started Canyon Solar about three years ago.

He worked for a large energy company when he noticed a gap in the market.

“Solar canopies were really expensive, and the installation was always disruptive to the site so it was hard to sell them to the client,” he said.

“Putting them together needs skilled labour and in rural and regional areas it can be hard to get people with the right qualifications.

“I thought if we could pre-fab the canopies and do most of the hard work off-site that would solve those problems.”

Will estimates the solar canopies his company produces are about three times faster to install which minimises disruption to the carpark.

The business has plenty of room to grow – physically and in terms of market share.

“I started Canyon Solar in the shed of our family business in Mittagong,” he said.

“It’s been great because land is a lower cost; we have 11 acres so if we need to expand, we can just do it.

“It’s a great place to live and the quality of labour is really good, people are excited to come to work.

“Now we’ve done the Fairy Meadow trial we’re in discussions with Woolworths about a much larger rollout. AGL and Woolworths have really supported us to get up and running and get this project across the line.

“We’re doing a few more local projects too, like the West Illawarra Leagues club which will be more than double the size of the Fairy Meadow installation and should be done before the end of the year.”