Buildings at Midtown and Burwood Brickworks to be powered by renewable energy

The final apartment buildings at Burwood Brickworks in Melbourne and the first apartment buildings at Midtown MacPark in Sydney will be among the first in Australian masterplanned communities to integrate a carbon neutral energy solution through an embedded network and 100% renewable energy certificate combination delivered by Real Utilities.

Real Utilities will supply energy to all apartments at Burwood Brickworks, with the final two buildings set to welcome residents in mid-2023, and the first five buildings at Midtown MacPark, growing its residential pipeline by approximately 1,000 apartments.

The energy used in these Burwood Brickworks and Midtown MacPark apartments will not only be 100% carbon neutral, but it will also be drawn from 100% renewable sources.

It’s a major shift which signals the end of Real Utilities’ use of international carbon offsets and instead ensures the energy supplied to customers comes entirely from Australian renewable energy sources, both on- and off-site.

Subject to official approvals, Real Utilities will own and operate an embedded energy network within each building which integrates rooftop solar to supply carbon neutral energy to the embedded networks.

Off-site, Real Utilities has procured large-scale generation certificates to cover its customers’ electricity demands in 2023 and has a seven-year renewable energy certificate purchase agreement in place which involves the purchase of 140,000 certificates per year from 2024 to 2030, to cover 100% of the projected electricity demands of its customers well into the future.

These certificates represent a guarantee to customers that the energy supplied to their homes is generated entirely from renewable sources.

“Since Frasers Property formed Real Utilities in 2017, our strategy has been to progressively decarbonise our energy supply to the point where we no longer require carbon offsets to deliver on our promise to provide 100% carbon neutral energy solutions to customers,” Anita Hoskins, General Manager, Real Utilities says.

“These homes will be among the first in large-scale masterplanned communities in Australia to be powered by carbon neutral energy without any dependence on carbon offsets to achieve this. It’s not only a major milestone for Real Utilities but also a new line in the sand for renewable energy supply on a community scale for the industry,” she says.