Telstra’s Turned On A Couple Of Solar-Powered Exchanges In Victoria

While Telstra may be considered by some as the devil incarnate, the company is doing its part for the environment — it recently switched a couple of its metropolitan exchanges in Victoria over to solar power. Hey, it’s got to stoke the fires of the demonic telephone afterlife somehow.

According to a press release from the organisation, Telstra’s Lyndhurst and Deer Park exchanges, located 35 and 17 kilometres from the Melbourne CDB respectively, now draw electricity from 30kW solar power systems. These will reportedly produce 40,000kWh of energy annually and account for 10 per cent of the exchanges’ power footprint.

While using solar power is nothing new for Telstra — it’s the only option in certain rural areas — it is a first for its metropolitan exchanges. John Romano, the company’s property executive director, says Telstra is eyeing off further solar panel installations:

Mr Romano said with approximately 120 large exchange buildings across the Melbourne metropolitan area alone there was a significant opportunity to continue reducing their environmental impact. “We will continue to assess and monitor how successful these panels will be in reducing costs and the impact these buildings can have on the environment,” Mr Romano said. “In the coming years we will look to further expand the rollout of solar panels to ensure that we can continue to meet the targets set out in our environmental action plan.”

I guess it will do until consumer-level fusion is available.

Image: Newtown grafitti / Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0


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