Today marks the tenth anniver­sary of the DKA Solar Cen­tre, which was opened on this day in 2008 by the then Aus­tralian Envi­ron­ment Min­is­ter, the Hon­ourable Peter Gar­rett MP. 

DKA proud­ly cel­e­brates the peo­ple and organ­i­sa­tions who have helped devel­op the Solar Cen­tre, includ­ing the Cen­tre for Appro­pri­ate Tech­nol­o­gy and Ekisti­ca (known as CAT Projects in 2008). The DKA Solar Cen­tre was com­plet­ed with fund­ing from the Aus­tralian Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment and is now com­mer­cial­ly sus­tain­able in its ongo­ing operations. 

Based in Alice Springs, the Solar Cen­tre com­bines research and devel­op­ment, edu­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties, investor insight, and knowl­edge gen­er­a­tion and shar­ing. The Solar Cen­tre demon­strates 41 solar instal­la­tions, show­cas­ing solar tech­nolo­gies of many types, ages, makes and mod­els built in col­lab­o­ra­tion with indus­try and research part­ners. With over 300 sun­ny days a year, Alice Springs’ arid con­di­tions make it the per­fect demon­stra­tion facil­i­ty for solar technologies. 

The Solar Cen­tre’s web­site show­cas­es live inter­ac­tive data and pro­vides long-term per­for­mance data which can be down­loaded. The web­site is accessed by more than 10,000 users across the world annu­al­ly, includ­ing research insti­tu­tions, aca­d­e­mics, stu­dents, prod­uct devel­op­ers, investors, indus­try and mem­bers of the pub­lic. Vis­i­tors are also wel­come to vis­it the Solar Cen­tre and com­plete a self-guid­ed tour dur­ing busi­ness hours.

The Solar Cen­tre pro­vides elec­tric­i­ty to the organ­i­sa­tions on the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, reduc­ing the amount drawn from the grid. DKA engages Ekisti­ca for the oper­a­tion and main­te­nance of the Solar Centre. 

Then and Now

• At its open­ing on 1 Octo­ber 2008, the DKA Solar Cen­tre fea­tured 15 instal­la­tions; ten years lat­er, there are over 40 instal­la­tions at the largest mul­ti-tech­nol­o­gy solar demon­stra­tion facil­i­ty in the south­ern hemisphere. 

• In 2008, the DKA Solar Cen­tre pro­vid­ed the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct with 20% of its ener­gy needs. Today, the Solar Cen­tre sup­plies 42% of the Precinc­t’s power. 

• Ten years ago, it was pre­dict­ed that the Solar Cen­tre would save over 100 tonnes of CO₂ emis­sions each year. This year, the Solar Cen­tre has helped avoid 314 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. 

Since 2008

• The DKA Solar Cen­tre has gen­er­at­ed 3.7 mil­lion kWh of ener­gy, equiv­a­lent to 2,500 tones of avoid­ed CO₂ emis­sions.