COLORMAKER SAVES 500 TONNES OF GHG

Colormaker Industries, the Brookvale-based manufacturer of Permaset screen printing inks, passed the milestone of 500 tonnes of greenhouse gases saved through the electricity produced from its 100kW rooftop solar array.

The terrific number came just a day short of 40 months since the array was first powered up, on 18 September 2019, in the midst of Australia’s Black Summer bushfires. Since then, despite first the smoke of the bushfires, and then three successive years of La Niña rainfall, the solar array has pushed out clean electricity every single day, culminating in the 500 tonnes saving achievement achievement.

The installation of the solar array proved to be a sustainable jumping off point for the Colormaker business, which has now followed up with three EVs for deliveries and staff transport, an electric forklift (no more LPG on site), a more energy efficient air compressor, a small battery to soak up some of the surplus electricity, and more plans to come.

The solar array was originally designed to produce around twice as much electricity as the business needed. However, being a producer made Colormaker a lot more conscious of its own use. The new compressor was the biggest factor in getting overall electricity usage down 20 per cent.

David Stuart, managing director of Colormaker, said, “Having such a huge energy surplus has been a great enabler for Colormaker.

“Notwithstanding, with the very real effects of La Niña, we now produce 2.2 times as much electricity as we use. If the sun comes out and stays out, we might get that up to 2.4. Even so, for every single kWh that we’ve purchased over the past 12 months, we put 4.44 kWh into the grid. Since the battery went in, we’ve also been able to bring our demand down to one-seventh of what it was when we first installed solar, taking further strain off the grid.”

The saving generated so far is just the beginning for Colormaker, which is also aiming to almost eliminate buying electricity in the evening peak.

Stuart said, “Our current projects on-site are working towards eliminating buying any electricity during the evening peak and to improving self-sufficiency; the first battery is moving us rapidly in that direction. Against an historical self-sufficiency average of 65 per cent (we could still only supply 65 per cent of our electricity needs), for November-December we achieved a record 83.5 per cent, and expect that to be bettered in January. Once we install our big battery, we’re confident that we’ll get above 90 per cent, possibly even 95 per cent.

“Looking beyond our own site, the use of one electric vehicle looks set to have saved four to five tonnes of GHGs a year from vehicle emissions versus a traditional vehicle. To close out 2022, we acquired two more EVs but are really looking forward to the delivery of our Australian made big battery and Aussie made prototype delivery van – with a much bigger range and payload capacity, we see this vehicle as being a game changer.”

While its objective over the next two years is to be carbon neutral by the end of 2024, until the big battery and van arrive, Colormaker is getting on with business, and says it is “putting a little bit of Northern Beaches sunshine into every drop it makes to make the world a better place through colour”.