Schenker Australia reaps the benefits of vast roof spaces to achieve green

Since 2014 Schenker Australia has engaged with the commercial solar industry to complete a number of commercial- scale installations: a 51.75 kW project at a warehouse facility in Eagle Farm near Brisbane Airport (2014), other three 100 kW projects at Australian Head Office in Alexandria (2015), Eastern Creek (2016) in Sydney and High Wycombe Perth (2016). Currently, around 15% of all energy consumed by DB Schenker’s stations and warehouses worldwide is harnessed from renewable energy. In Australia (whole country not DB Schenker) only 8-10% of all energy consumed is classified as renewable which indicated Schenker is performing extremely well.

Schenker plans to increase this figure to 18% by 2020, in order to attain the emissions reduction target.
Other emission reduction strategies include using fuel-efficient vehicles, employing smarter route planning and increasing the utilisation of rail in full container load freight. This is because rail transport can be up to 70% more efficient than a semitrailer for long distance trips. Electricity generation from solar power is also part of the emissions target reduction game plan.

“Solar energy is an extremely viable way to achieve lower consumption because of the vast and unobstructed roof spaces available to warehousing facilities. The business case is simple as there are very few variables involved. For us it means an investment with almost zero risk and very few internal resources required to set it up.” - Mr Koehler, CEO of Schenker Australia and New Zealand

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system can provide 12% to 20% of total energy supply in warehouses, depending on the facility location and whether it is cooled or contains testing labs for electronics vertical market. Schenker Australia are currently exploring new systems at Hoxton Park and Redbank sites as these two massive sites with a combined area of 85,000m2 are energy guzzlers. Schenker will look at first reducing the consumption through LED lighting and using solar to offset.