Most solar business cases assume a load shape. This one does not. Your interval data for the twelve months to 1 June 2026 shows 1,107 MWh of grid import, a 394 kW peak, and a load that runs hard right through the middle of the day in every season.
Three things in that curve matter commercially:
Load runs 240 to 265 kW from 10am to 3pm in every season, which is exactly the generation window. The canopy output curve sits underneath the demand curve almost all day.
Non-work days average 3,129 kWh against 2,982 kWh on work days. An office dumps its weekend solar to the grid at a low rate. A tourist attraction consumes it.
The site never really switches off, so there is no risk of generating into an empty building. Load factor is 32%.
Modelled interval by interval against your own data, at 381.42 kWp:
| Measured against your meter | Now | With the canopy |
|---|---|---|
| Grid import | 1,107 MWh | 596 MWh |
| Generated on site | - | 526 MWh |
| Of that, used on site | - | 97.0% |
| Exported at a low rate | - | 16 MWh |
| Average monthly peak demand | 352 kW | 255 kW |
The Railway, Cableway and Skyway are electric traction loads cycling through the whole trading day. That is why the midday plateau is so flat.
Guests arrive from Sydney having gained a kilometre of elevation, then park for three to four hours. Close to ideal charging dwell time.
Our layout puts 27 foundations through the existing deck. Four bays are lost, one per parking row, where pre-existing reinforcement does not line up with the bay markings. Everything else stays.
Drawn to scale on the actual car park and priced through our engine. Preliminary, ex-GST, subject to site assessment.
| Base scope | Quantity | Unit price | Amount (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar equipment supply | 381.42 kWp | $0.365/W | $139,317 |
| Structure supply | 381.42 kWp | $0.705/W | $268,902 |
| Structure and electrical installation | 381.42 kWp | $0.314/W | $119,738 |
| Project management and engineering | 381.42 kWp | $0.217/W | $82,616 |
| Civil supply and installation | 381.42 kWp | $0.145/W | $55,344 |
| Safety and access | 381.42 kWp | $0.093/W | $35,292 |
| Lighting | 381.42 kWp | $0.051/W | $19,316 |
| Site investigations | 381.42 kWp | $0.028/W | $10,500 |
| Base scope sub-total | $1.92/W | $731,025 |
| Optional scope | Quantity | Amount (AUD) |
|---|---|---|
| Battery storage, sized for demand | 250 kWh / 125 kW | $162,500 |
| EV charging | 10 chargers | $196,400 |
| Optional sub-total | $358,900 | |
| Total, base and optional | $2.86/W | $1,089,925 |
| Provisional sums | Quantity | Amount (AUD) |
|---|---|---|
| Pod transport to site | 10 trucks | $17,500 |
| Trenching | 50 m | $32,500 |
| Provisional sub-total | $50,000 |
On this site a battery earns its return from peak demand, not from storing surplus solar. The canopy is so well matched to your load that only about 16 MWh a year spills, so there is nothing meaningful to store. What there is, is a 255 kW residual peak after solar, billed at roughly $14 per kW per month.
We modelled every pack size against your metered year, holding the lowest demand cap each pack can sustain on the worst day of every month, at a 0.5C continuous discharge rate. The result is a clear optimum.
| Pack | Inverter | Peak after | Demand cut | Saving | Cost | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 kWh | 50 kW | 202 kW | 50 kW | $10,576/yr | $65,000 | 6.1 yrs |
| 200 kWh | 100 kW | 152 kW | 99 kW | $23,457/yr | $130,000 | 5.5 yrs |
| 250 kWh Recommended | 125 kW | 131 kW | 121 kW | $29,644/yr | $162,500 | 5.5 yrs |
| 400 kWh | 200 kW | 91 kW | 161 kW | $42,843/yr | $260,000 | 6.1 yrs |
| 800 kWh | 400 kW | 58 kW | 194 kW | $64,157/yr | $520,000 | 8.1 yrs |
Two things would change that recommendation upward, and both are worth testing before you commit. A confirmed PDRS entitlement pays specifically for peak demand reduction in NSW, which is exactly the duty this battery performs, and it scales with the size of the cut. Outage resilience is the other: on a Blue Mountains site running aerial cableways, holding critical load through a storm outage is a different specification and sized on hours of backup rather than on demand charges.
Every figure below is for the scope priced above, at the assumptions stated at the foot of this page. Energy, export and demand come from modelling the canopy against your metered year interval by interval, not from a rule of thumb.
| Capital | Amount (AUD, ex-GST) |
|---|---|
| Canopy, 381.42 kWp | $731,025 |
| Battery, 250 kWh / 125 kW | $162,500 |
| EV charging, 10 chargers | $196,400 |
| Total capital | $1,089,925 |
| Less STCs at $0.27/W on 381.42 kWp | -$102,983 |
| Net investment | $986,942 |
| Annual benefit | Per year | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Energy displaced | $127,605 | 510 MWh at 25c |
| Demand charge saved | $36,792 | 219 kW at $14/kW/mo |
| EV charging margin | $28,908 | 10 chargers, 10% utilisation |
| Battery load shifting | $9,313 | 78 MWh at a 12c spread |
| Export income | $638 | 16 MWh at 4c |
| Operations and maintenance | -$5,721 | $15/kWp/yr |
| Net annual benefit | $197,535 |
Canyon Solar factory-builds solar canopies that turn car parks into onsite generation and shade. We have delivered them for Woolworths, across three sites, and for IGA, AstraZeneca and CSIRO. At Wests Illawarra Leagues Club we installed 365 kWp over the club's main car park across two staged installs, with four EV chargers, cutting grid electricity by 30 per cent. Stage two ran from site start to handover in seven days.
For a deck this shape the standout design is the Grand Canyon: a continuous, full-coverage canopy with no gaps over the driving lanes. It gives the highest solar density in our range and a clean roofline that reads as a designed part of the site rather than bolted on. Installs are staged so a portion of the car park stays accessible throughout.
Nothing above is a black box. These are every input behind the numbers, and the two we could not source are marked.
| Input | Used | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Site consumption | 1,107 MWh/yr | Your 15-minute interval data, 35,136 intervals to 1 June 2026 |
| Peak demand | 394 kW | Same data, highest recorded interval |
| Specific yield | 1,380 kWh/kWp | Blue Mountains, 10 degree tilt, north |
| Self-consumption | 97.0% | Modelled interval by interval against your load, not assumed |
| Blended energy rate | 25c/kWh | Assumed Indicative NSW commercial all-in rate |
| Demand charge | $14/kW/month | Assumed Indicative NSW network demand rate |
| Feed-in tariff | 4c/kWh | Indicative commercial export rate |
| Peak to off-peak spread | 12c/kWh | Used for battery load shifting only |
| STC value | $0.27/W | Canyon's current rate, to be confirmed at final design |
| PDRS | Not counted | Pays for peak demand reduction in NSW. Tier and rate not yet confirmed, so it is excluded rather than estimated. It can only improve the case |
| EV utilisation | 10% | Share of the year each 22 kW charger delivers at rated power |
| EV margin | $0.15/kWh | Charged rate less the cost of energy delivered |
| Battery discharge rate | 0.5C continuous | 250 kWh pack, 125 kW inverter |
| System size | 381.42 kWp | 489 Aiko 780W modules, 27 foundations, per the issued full coverage layout |
| Operations and maintenance | $15/kWp/yr | Canyon standard for a canopy of this size |
The next step is to engage Canyon Solar for the ECI works package: structural and electrical engineering, a site visit, and more accurate costings around transport, access and infrastructure. It runs to the point of Development Application submission and turns the preliminary figures in this document into numbers you can build against, without committing to the project itself.
| ECI scope | Amount (AUD, ex-GST) |
|---|---|
| Site inspection. Access for deliveries and mobile crane, staging and work areas, deck condition, lighting poles, trees, shading and slope | $760 |
| Geotechnical investigation. Borehole drilling and soil sampling at most estimated foundation locations | $3,750 |
| Underground service scanning. Stormwater, gas, electricity and comms, and confirming bore locations are clear | $2,500 |
| Preliminary design and construction methodology. Conceptual layout, structural framing and footing locations, access, staging and lifting methodology | $4,250 |
| Structural engineering | $10,000 |
| Hydraulic engineering | $16,250 |
| Drawing package for DA. Site plan, general arrangement, elevations, sections, lighting and stormwater | $5,000 |
| Planning support through the DA process, including council RFIs | $3,000 |
| Electrical engineering. Main switchboard and connection point, electrical design, cable route to the car park and any switchboard upgrade requirementTo be confirmed | TBC |
| ECI total, excluding electrical | $45,510 |
ECI is expected to take four to six weeks from formal engagement, subject to site access, approvals, weather and third-party consultant availability. Alongside it we will replace the two assumed commercial rates in this document, the 25c energy rate and the $14 per kW demand charge, with the actuals from your retail contract, and resolve the metering question raised above.