CleanPeak Energy began its journey in 2017 and says it is quickly revolutionising Australia’s energy market by making renewable energy available and affordable. If you are moving to a CleanPeak site, here are a few things to know about the retailer.
Founded in 2017, CleanPeak Energy began with the idea of being a top distributed energy provider. The founders Philip Graham and Jon Hare, brought about 50 years of combined experience in the energy sector together with their vision of deploying renewable assets to create CleanPeak Energy.
Despite being a fairly new player in the Australian energy market, CleanPeak Energy has achieved some ambitious milestones. Its Tri-generation installations have helped reduce energy costs and environmental impact at several sites. The company targets sites with energy-intensive manufacturing, commercial complexes, shopping centres, and other buildings with a high daytime load.
CleanPeak Energy is different from most energy retailers as it aims to create long term partnerships with large sites.
What is Tri-generation technology?
Tri-generation is a way of generating three forms of energy from a single fuel source. Using a tri-generation system, it is possible to generate electricity, hot water for heating, and chilled water for cooling using natural gas as a fuel source. This method of generation can be up to three times more efficient than the separate production of electricity, hot water and chilled water.
What is distributed energy?
Customers in Australia need to buy electricity from electricity retail companies in order to power their homes and workplaces. Most electricity retailers buy the electricity from the wholesale market and then sell it to their customers at a higher price. Massive generator systems maintain the supply of electricity in the wholesale market and are typically located hundreds of kilometres from the place where the electricity will finally be used. As a result, the electricity has to be transported from the large generators to the final customers. Transmission of electricity over long distances can result in transmission losses.
Distributed energy is the generation and storage of electricity done at various small grid-connected sites. Such a decentralised approach to energy generation results in a lower environmental impact and lower pressure on the transmission and distribution network.
What does CleanPeak Energy offer?
CleanPeak Energy says it helps businesses by deploying renewable energy and efficient gas-fired generation to their sites. This can help organisations save on electricity and also achieve their sustainability targets.
Organisations that own commercial and industrial buildings can partner with CleanPeak Energy to install solar power generation and storage systems on their premises. CleanPeak commits to long term rentals of rooftop space helping property owners to monetise this otherwise underutilised space. After a full structural and electrical review of the roof and the building, CleanPeak Energy installs and commissions the solar generation and storage system for the site. Having commissioned the solar power generation system, CleanPeak Energy provides the building owners and tenants with renewable energy at low rates. CleanPeak Energy also manages the demand between the installed system and the grid-supplied electricity. Depending on the electricity demand and the on-site generation, the installed system can supplement the customer’s grid consumption or satisfy the short-term demand. In either case, the company says the solar generation and storage system significantly reduces the site’s power costs.
CleanPeak Energy also caters to corporate and residential parks by offering district energy systems. Such systems are purpose-built to provide heating and cooling services, as well as electricity supply and backup power to multiple buildings in the district. CleanPeak Energy owns and operates tri-generation systems for several sites, offering a range of benefits such as reducing the peak demand for electricity, reducing the environmental impact of the building.
Corporate and residential parks can also partner with CleanPeak Energy to achieve an embedded electrical network that will serve the entire site.
If the district also has residential customers, CleanPeak Energy also offers a network serving homeowners and tenants with residential utilities. A natural gas distribution network offers an affordable gas supply. In addition, CleanPeak Energy can also provide recycled water for non-drinking purposes such as toilet flushing, irrigation, and laundry washing. This helps residents reduce their water bills and environmental impact.
As CleanPeak Energy partners with the owners of the sites served, it is different from a typical energy or utility retailer. It owns and operates the embedded network and distributed energy assets. This helps develop a long term association between the partners, and more importantly, the site owners can benefit from the tri-generation and distributed systems in their embedded network without the need to make the initial capital investment.
CleanPeak Energy customers
CleanPeak Mascot and CleanPeak Central Park are two districts in the Sydney area where the energy company has deployed its tri-generation and solar energy systems. These systems combine to offer the districts a well-rounded energy solution helping them keep their costs down and sustainability high. CleanPeak Central Park also has residential electricity plans for homes in the embedded network.
CleanPeak Tonsley, also in the Sydney area, is the result of a fifty-year Development Agreement (DA) between Renewal SA and CleanPeak Energy. In Tonsley, CleanPeak Energy offers a very wide range of services to residential and business customers alike. Being the primary utility supplier, it offers electricity in the embedded network, a natural gas network, recycled water, and solar power. In Tonsley, CleanPeak aims to use the rooftop solar installation to generate at least 30 per cent of all energy consumed on the site. This site was also awarded Australia’s first-ever 6-star Green Star accreditation for an Urban Renewal project. The Green Star is an accreditation by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
In Wacol Queensland, CleanPeak Energy has a 3.2 MW rooftop solar energy generation system which was commissioned in 2018 and was, at that time, the largest single rooftop solar energy installation in Australia.
CleanPeak Energy announced in December 2020 that it will acquire the Wangaratta Solar Farm and is on their way to delivering 100 per cent renewable energy for all of its customers by 2025.
How can CleanPeak Energy customers pay their bills?
Customers of CleanPeak Energy can choose their preferred method of payment from a range of different options.
Customers can pay their bills online through a secure bill payment portal. CleanPeak Energy has partnered with StrataMax to provide customers with this quick and easy way to pay their bills.
Customers who prefer to pay by phone can do so by calling 1300 552 311. Customers choosing to pay by phone are advised to keep their account number ready when they call.
It is also possible to make a payment via a bank account using BPAY and customers will be able to find their BPAY biller code and reference number on each bill.
Customers can also set up a direct debit by filling out the simple direct debit request form and this is a great way to not forget to pay. Unlike some other energy retailers though, CleanPeak Energy does not offer any special reimbursements or prices to customers choosing to register for the direct debit.
It is also possible to make a payment by mailing in a cheque or money order to StrataPay, although this method of payment is likely to have a longer processing time.