Impact International, a manufacturer of squeeze tubes for food, cosmetics, personal care and pharmaceutical industries, has officially launched a first-of-its-kind industrial solar farm in Sydney at its Smithfield facility.

The 290kw installation will supply 100% of the power for the manufacturing site, eliminating 300 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually and generating 395 MWh’s of electricity per year, enough to supply all the power needs of 90 Australian homes.

The solar installation is part of a sustainability program that has seen Impact International update motors to more energy efficient models, re-design its factory layout to improve production efficiency, install smarter lighting and change how it schedules production to further reduce energy consumption.

“Our decision to boldly invest in green energy comes from our commitment to our customers for whom sustainability deeply matters. Our customers choose Impact because of our quality, product knowledge, service and the superior barrier properties of our tubes. In other words, they care greatly about the quality of the tubes they use. By extension the energy that is used to produce these tubes really matters.  We want to add to our customers’ story of quality and care—our ground-breaking solar farm does exactly that,” said Impact International managing director Aleks Lajovic.

The solar farm occupies more than 800 square metres and is designed so customers and other visitors can tour the installation to see the system at work.  Smart Commercial Solar installed and will monitor the efficiency of the 5B Maverick solar array, a world-first technology developed and manufactured in Alexandria, Sydney.

“Impact has shown that solar is not only commercially viable for industrial operations but also has critical benefits for the entire supply chain.  Increasingly being able to say that your energy was generated on-site from the sun is becoming a sought after business benefit,” said Smart Commercial Solar founder Huon Hoogesteger.

The Maverick system is also readily compatible with energy storage, so businesses can save the extra energy they produce.

“Our technology makes it easier and more affordable than ever for industrial users to include solar in their energy mix,” said 5B CEO Chris McGrath.

“Coupled with increasingly affordable energy storage, it will help remove some pressure from a business’ bottom line.”