LOGOS strikes mega solar panel deal with renewables fund Solar Bay

Industrial property landlord Logos is a step closer to making its entire portfolio carbon-neutral after striking a mega deal with Atlassian’s founders to install solar panels at its logistics precinct in Sydney.

Under the plan, LOGOS will work with Solar Bay, the renewables fund backed by software billionaire Scott Farquhar and Kim Jackson’s Skip Capital and Jeremy Kwong-Law and Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures, to install panels on the roof at the Moorebank Logistics Park (MLP). The facility is being touted as Australia’s largest intermodal freight facility with an end development value of $4.2 billion.

The target is to save 67.2 kilotonne of CO2 emissions annually through 100 per cent renewable energy, generating enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 40,000 homes in NSW and supplying the full energy requirement of MLP during daylight hours.

LOGOS chief executive Darren Searle said the deal reflects the demand by building owners and tenants for sustainable, carbon-neutral properties and confirmed the scheme will be rolled out across its Australian portfolio in coming years.

“In terms of industrial and storage applications, investors and tenants want greener and cleaner buildings, and we are focused on demonstrating that we can deliver,” Searle said.

“The world has changed and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is a priority,” he added.

LOGOS and Solar Bay will develop the precinct-wide microgrid, which will operate at a combination of 11kV and 33kV to provide the required electrical capacity to tenants.

Solar Bay is a Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund (REIF) that installs and operates generation, storage and microgrids across Australia and New Zealand. It is backed by Cannon-Brooks and Farquhar who founded the tech giant Atlassian but have become more well-known as shareholder activists and eco-warriors.

LOGOS is a logistics specialist with $26.5 billion of assets under management across 10 countries in Asia Pacific and backed by the ESR Group. It was founded by industrial property veterans John Marsh and Trent Iliffe and its properties owned and under development, include the Qantas buildings at Mascot and the logistic estates at Truganina and Broadmeadows in Melbourne.