CONSTRUCTION has begun on one of Australia’s first carbon neutral apartment complexes – Montreal Commons in Fremantle.

The complex has a developer-funded 75kW solar rooftop system and local battery storage, topped up with 100 per cent green energy from the grid.

Residents will have access to 100 per cent renewable energy and receive 50 per cent off their strata fees, and won’t have to pay anything towards the rooftop solar.

With 39 apartments over five storeys next to Fremantle golf course and opposite Boo Park, the development has proved popular with sandgropers with 70 per cent of apartments sold off-plan before the first sod was turned last week.

The complex takes advantage of Powerledger’s energy trading platform, which allows near-to-real-time, fully-accountable peer-to-peer energy trading.

“Montreal Commons will use Powerledger’s platform to produce about 240 tonnes less of carbon emissions per year compared to a typical apartment building. This is equivalent to taking fifty cars off the road,” says Powerledger co-founder and CEO Dr Jemma Green.

Founded in Perth in 2016, the tech company’s energy trading platform is available across more than thirty projects in eleven countries, enabling customers to access and trade cheaper, cleaner electricity. Powerledger’s blockchain-enabled software works alongside the existing infrastructure of energy systems, enabling greater control and ownership for consumers and producers.

The company recently committed to the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact, a Google initiative in partnership with Sustainable Energy for All and UN-Energy, which sets out to decarbonise the world’s electricity systems.

As part of this commitment, Powerledger is officially recognised as a solutions provider to businesses that wish to achieve 24/7 carbon-free energy.  Montreal Commons is being built by Northerly Group Australia, with construction to be completed by mid 2023.

Stakeholders turn the first sod at Montreal Commons (artist’s impression of apartment complex below).