Featured in A redrawn energy landscape – 05-2022

Sky-scraping solar

As people have gradually migrated to the world’s cities, urban areas have migrated upward to scrape the sky. And yet, while one of the first principles of power generation is to generate as close as possible to the point of consumption, energy systems have long been designed to deliver electricity to major cities from distant hubs. But now, thanks to recent advances in solar panel energy density and building-integrated PV, vertical cities could soon be standing tall under their own power.

By

Blake Matich

06 May 2022

Walker Corp.’s Collins Square Tower site in central Melbourne hosts 223 kW of solar across the tops of its towers, 145 meters above the ground. | Image: Venergy Australia

T he heart of downtown Melbourne, Australia, is known for many things: little “Instagrammable” lanes of graffiti, trendy cafes, trams, museums, and of course, its cluster of skyscrapers shooting up out of nowhere like the Emerald City of Oz. But what those walking the streets of downtown Melbourne can’t see 145 meters above their heads …

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