Jakob's Geelong apartment building was already carrying a hefty shared common area power bill when the body corporate started looking at solar, not just to cover common areas, but to bring real savings to every resident.
The building has been part of the Geelong skyline for over a decade, one of the city's first tall apartment developments, with eight levels, 42 apartments and a handful of commercial spaces. Running it isn't cheap: a foyer, two lifts, three levels of car parking with electric gates, a security system and 24/7 CCTV all draw on the body corporate's shared power account, which added up to around $15,000 a year.
Jakob's own motivation went beyond the bottom line. He drives an electric car and makes a habit of reducing his impact on the planet, a mindset he says is shared by most of his neighbours. Living in an apartment already means using less energy to heat and cool his home than he would in a house. Adding solar to the roof, he says,
"really takes that to the next level of living environmentally sound."
The body corporate had looked at solar before, but only as a way to cover shared electricity costs. Then they discovered SolShare – solar that could benefit every apartment, not just the common areas.
Jakob's apartment building in Geelong, VIC
With 45 lots ranging from one-bedroom apartments to large three-bedroom homes and commercial spaces, the building needed a solar system that could divide energy fairly, in proportion to what each owner already contributes to the body corporate, rather than splitting it evenly regardless of size.
It also meant getting everyone on board. Strata law required a formal vote before a change of this scale could go ahead, and because electricity meters are individual to each unit, installers need access to every apartment's NMI number (National Metering Identifier), including rented ones, to get the system connected. And it all had to happen without shutting the building down – lifts, security and CCTV needed to stay live throughout.
A project like this only happens with real buy-in from owners. The body corporate needed a set percentage of owners to vote in favour of the change, so our team joined body corporate meetings to answer questions directly and help owners understand exactly how shared solar would work for them. When the vote came in, it returned around 80–90% in favour – a significantly strong show of support for the project.
With the vote passed, we set up SolShare to divide the solar generated on the roof across all 45 lots – apartments and commercial spaces alike – based on each owner's lot entitlement. A one-bedroom apartment receives a smaller share; a larger three-bedroom apartment receives more. It's the same logic the body corporate already uses to split its fees, just applied to solar.
The full system cost around $150,000, with Victoria's Solar for Apartments grant covering roughly 70–80% of that. Because all 42 residential apartments qualified, the body corporate covered the rest through its sinking fund (its reserve for shared building costs), including contributions from commercial lot owners, who don't receive the grant directly but still benefit from lower shared running costs. That made it an easy financial decision from the start.
Although uncommon, some of the meters we positioned inside individual apartments; the installer needed repeated access across the building, including to rented units. Jakob and the strata managers coordinated directly with residents and owners to arrange convenient access times, and the installer returned to site as many times as needed to make sure nobody was left out.
Since going live, the building is already using around half the solar generated on its roof, with residents like Jakob adjusting habits (running the car charger, washing machine or dishwasher) to make the most of free daytime solar. Next, the body corporate is looking into battery storage, so residents can use that extra daytime solar at night too.