QIC Real Estate

CASE STUDY

Victorian businesses achieved leading price renewable electricity by using a council sponsored ACCC approved buying group

SOLAR DEPLOYMENT, RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY, NET ZERO EMISSIONS, EMBEDDED NETWORK PROFITABILITY, POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS, RETAIL ENERGY, SUSTAINABILTY

Profitably lower cost and emissions with rooftop solar

QIC Real Estate set a 2028 target to achieve net-zero Scope 1 & 2 emissions. 

The deployment of solar was selected as a key step to reduce emissions and operational energy costs to enhance the long-term value of its retail real estate portfolio.

QIC’s shopping centre portfolio presented both a strategic opportunity and a technical challenge for solar deployment. Shopping centres are large, complex buildings with embedded networks, multiple grid connections, infrastructure constraints, and diverse stakeholder groups – all require careful planning co-ordination.

Beyond technical feasibility, QIC needed commercial structures that would deliver optimum value to its investment funds and fulfil tax requirements.

1Circle was appointed to provide end-to-end commercial and technical advisory services.  This included feasibility analysis, procurement, deployment and ongoing performance management of the solar installations.

Challenge

Shopping centres present a strategic opportunity for deployment of rooftop solar however, they come with significant challenges including:

  • Technical: large shopping center’s are complex and require consideration of:
    • Development masterplan constraints and opportunities
    • Main switchboard and distribution board limitations
    • Latent roof conditions
    • Gaps documentation e.g. structural, electrical single-line diagrams
    • Local Distribution Network Service Provider constraints
  • Commercial: complex financial structures are often required to maximise returns whilst ensuring tax requriements are fulfilled
  • Stakeholder: a portfolio rollout in a large organisation requires a wide variety of stakeholders to be involved
  • Contractor:  the capacity and capability of many contractors are limited and/or special considerations need to apply for regional deployment
  • Operations: the continued operation of a shopping centre must be preserved, thus careful planning is required
  • Performance: solar system operational performance requires close monitoring to mitigate downtime and ongoing financial analysis to maximise returns

Solution

1Circle fulfilled QIC Real Estate’s requirements using its Solar Performance service.  Solar Performance is an end-to-end solution for commercial-scale solar.

The porfolio solar program was delivered with:

  • A carefully structured commercial model to maintain compliance while delivering savings
  • Site-by-site business cases tailored to each asset’s embedded network and operational profile
  • Solar connection and metering approaches that ensured full cost recovery on common area electricity
  • Ongoing stakeholder engagement across QIC departments to align goals and delivery timelines

The rollout was executed in partnership with experienced solar delivery teams to ensure safety, quality, and minimal operational disruption during installation.

Upon completion of deployment, 1Circle provided ongoing performance management support including:

  • solar generation and maintenance performance evaluation and action management
  • performance guarantee assessment
  • financial savings calculation and preparation of budgets, roof-rent and other financial metrics
  • financial and sustainability reporting

 

Results

Working across 14 high-performing assets within its portfolio, QIC implemented 23 MW of solar to produce approximately 33,000 MWh pa of renewable electricity.

The rollout was executed in partnership with experienced solar delivery teams to ensure safety, quality, and minimal operational disruption during installation.

The results include:

  • 23 MW of solar PV installed across 14 shopping centres
  • Forecast annual generation of 33 GWh
  • Estimated $2.3 million in electricity cost reductions per year
  • 60% of common area electricity now supplied by solar
  • 23% of total embedded network load covered
  • Full recovery of common area costs maintained
  • Opportunities created for increased embedded network profitability or future tenant benefits

This portfolio-scale solar program demonstrates the commercial and environmental viability of renewable energy in complex, multi-site retail environments. It sets a clear precedent for strategic energy management in institutional real estate.

For further information contact 1circle