The three key initiatives that form the Greening the Wharf initiative are; the installation of the state-of-the-art photovoltaic (PV) array; the introduction of extensive energy efficiency measures; and the introduction of a rainwater harvesting, storage and reticulation system that will supply 100 per cent of the company’s non-potable water requirements.

Sydney Theatre Company (STC) Artistic Directors Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett said that the Wharf, formerly a working pier and now home to the company, “could provide a unique demonstration of how buildings, even heritage-listed ones, could be made more sustainable”.

Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong and Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced a $1.2 million grant from the Green Precincts Fund for the Greening the Wharf project at the project’s launch in July. The Suntech founder Dr Zhengrong Shi and his wife Vivienne Shi also made a significant philanthropic contribution through their family foundation to support the project, together with three private gifts from individuals, Cameron O’Reilly, Peter Hall and David Paradice, bringing a further $500,000 towards total projected costs of $5.4 million.

Energy efficiency

Mr Upton and Ms Blanchett have taken a leading role in spearheading a comprehensive energy and environment plan, developing relations with key partners and funders and communicating the importance of the scheme.

“At its best, theatre engages with and responds to the world around it and we believe that climate change is the most pressing challenge facing the human race today,” said the Artistic Directors.

“Greening the Wharf not only delivers enormous practical outcomes for the company but offers a vision of how we might all creatively embrace the challenge and opportunities that climate change presents.”

Through innovative energy efficiency measures and water re-use over the next 25 years, it is estimated that the project will deliver water savings of 37.5 million litres and 5,000 megawatt hours (MWh) in energy savings.

Work has commenced on the construction of new public toilets at the Wharf, which will incorporate Water Efficiency Labellings and Standards (WELS) 4.5 and 6 Star rated fittings and ensure compatibility with the rainwater harvesting system when implemented.

By improving the energy efficiency of this building, STC will reduce its carbon emissions by about 555 tonnes a year.

Pluto – the star of the show

The solar photovoltaic (PV) array to be installed at the Wharf will use using cutting-edge Pluto PV cells – high efficiency, low cost solar cells.

Dr Richard Corkish, the Head of School at the UNSW School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, spoke to EcoGeneration about the Pluto technology, developed together with Suntech Power and the ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence.

Dr Corkish says that the use of Pluto technology in the project is the combination of two separate projects.

“Firstly, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton wanted to dramatically improve the sustainability of STC’s operation at the Wharf Theatre and started the Greening the Wharf project, primarily addressing energy and water use and supply issues.

“Secondly, and initially separately, UNSW alumnus and Suntech founder, Dr Zhengrong Shi and his wife, Vivienne, were seeking an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to UNSW and Sydney for their part in setting them on the path to success, by funding the installation of a large, highly visible and aesthetically pleasing PV array at a prominent Sydney site.”

The solar array, to be erected on the roof of the Wharf, is a major component of the project.

“It is one of the most advanced crystalline silicon solar technologies around today and produces about 12 per cent more power than conventional crystalline silicon solar panels without increasing the production cost,” says Dr Shi.

“Using this technology, we recently broke the world record for the highest conversion efficiency, multi-crystalline silicon solar panel, and we plan to make more enhancements over the next few years to improve performance even further,” he adds.

The Pluto technology is a low-cost implementation of the PERL (Passive Emitter and Rear Locally diffused) solar cell developed at UNSW. Through collaborative research with Suntech, two generations of Pluto technology have now been developed.

The first generation uses the standard front surface design of the PERL cell but with a screen printed rear aluminium alloyed rear metal contact that simplifies the technology and allows it to be easily retrofitted onto existing screen printed solar cell lines.

In comparison to standard screen printed solar cells made on the same production line, Pluto cells achieve an increase in performace of more than 10 per cent by taking average efficiencies from about 16.5 per cent to 19 per cent.

In comparison to the semi-conductor finger technology, many of the losses associated with screen printed metal contacts (shading, contact resistance, metal resistance, dark saturation current from the metal/silicon interface) have been minimised through the Pluto technology, resulting in an efficiency increase by about one per cent in absolute terms.

In comparison to the laser-doping technology, the main advantage is the elimination of most of the defects and associated recombination that exists in the resolidified laser-doped regions or in locations immediately adjacent to these.

The recent Pluto technology breakthrough has been the development of new innovative techniques and processes for achieving these high-efficiency attributes at low cost while being well suited for commercial manufacturing.

The solar array is projected to generate 10,350 MWh of power for the Wharf over the next 25 years.

Green support

The project, which will deliver the majority of STC’s energy and water requirements from sustainable sources, is believed to be a first for any theatre company in the world in its scale and comprehensive approach to sustainability.

The first phase of the works is scheduled to begin in early 2010.