ALICE SPRINGS NEWS


BREAKING NEWS: Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 1400 CST.
Updated March 19, 2010 at 1720 CST.


Anger over Araluen solar air-conditioning:
Has the horse botled?



The east elevation of the thermal plant room: Not a pretty sight for an arts precinct? Note the size of the figure at left.


By KIERAN FINNANE


The solar air-conditioning project proposed for the Araluen Arts Centre is apparently not a "fait accompli" despite tenders for the project closing next Wednesday.
An information meeting, attended by some 60 people, was held last night, the first such meeting about the controversial project, planned since 2006 and in detail since at least late 2007, when the Alice News first reported on it as one of the five "iconic" projects for Alice Solar City.
Details about siting and the nature of the technology involved only began to emerge late last year and become public knowledge early this year, thanks to information disseminated by Central Craft, the cultural precinct facility the most directly impacted on by the proposals. 
Questions from the floor at the information meeting overwhelmingly expressed concern about the impact of the siting and the appearance of the project – described as an "industrial complex" – on the precinct.
There was also anger that the meeting had not been held earlier, especially before the project was put out to tender.
Given the imminent closure of the tender "I'm not sure what I'm doing here", said Harold Furber, local Aboriginal identity and board member of Desert Knowledge Australia, questioning "the process" to general applause.
There was no real explanation for the delay in informing the public, except for a suggestion that funding deadlines may have put the project under time pressure.
While precinct director Tim Rollason and newly appointed executive director of cultural institutions and collections, Hugo Leschen, both said the project as proposed was not a fait accompli there was no clear information about what scope remains for changes.
Information sheets made available at the meeting state clearly that "construction is expected to commence once the tender process is finalised, with the target completion date of June 2011".
From the floor John Childs – a user of the precinct but also someone with considerable expertise in resource planning – asked for an undertaking that calculations as to the viability of alternative sites be presented to the community.
Two sites had been suggested – one south of the homestead, next to the Memorial Cemetery, the other on the corner of Larapinta Drive and Memorial Avenue, currently a garden in front of the Museum of Central Australia (and Strehlow Research Centre).
The possibility of moving the project further east towards Memorial Drive had also been raised.
The supervising engineer, Lalith Ramachandra (Department of Construction and Infrastructure), said greater distance of the plant from the Araluen building can be managed by the pipework, but it would come at a cost in terms of energy consumption.
He said the most critical factor in determining location is the shading of the troughs.
While the usual commitments to consider everything said at the meeting were made, no undertaking was given to make available the information requested by Dr Childs.
Dr Childs criticised the quality of the information provided to date, noting particularly the discrepancies between the engineering elevations and the engineering plans on display in the Araluen foyer, showing different orientations of the plant building. Others noted differing orientations also of the solar array.
Pip McManus, artist and member of the board of Museums and Art Galleries of the NT, raised more than once the lack of visual information so that people could see what the project is going to look like.
She said she had specifically asked for such information to be made available for the meeting.
The only visual information to date has been engineering plans and elevations and photos of solar troughs similar to those that will be used, including a mockup of a field of troughs with the MacDonnell Ranges in the background.
At the current location the ranges will not be in the background –  Big Sister Hill, a sacred site, will be. And the mock-up does not show at all the plant, building with its tower, its most intrusive element.
There has been no clear information about fencing.
The current tender does not include the fence.
Mr Ramachandra did say that there had been discussion about a very high fence to protect the solar field (the troughs stand at just over two metres high).
Mr Rollason says architects' elevation drawings will soon be available (there were a  number of references to architects having withdrawn from the project, though it was not explained why).
Dr Childs pointed out that the water storage tower of the plant, at 8.5 metres high, will be 1.5 metres higher than the highest point of the roof of the adjacent Central Craft building.
Mark Wilson, artist and secretary of the Central Australian Art Society, asked for an Araluen advisory group to be formed immediately and for no decision on the tender be made without a review by the advisory group.
Mr Rollason and Mr Leschen both indicated that an advisory group will be set up – it is provided for in the revised draft development plan for the precinct, which will be released in April and open for public comment for a month.
With this process it will obviously be some time before the group is formed and able to have any input on anything.
Ms McManus expressed her concern about the process, saying that the community meeting in November last year had requested consultation and transparency in planning for the precinct and for an integrated vision for the precinct to be developed.
Mr Rollason said he had made the plans for the project available at the November meeting and if that was not clear to everybody at the time, he apologised. 
He said that consultation was being done "right now" – a bit late was the feeling of the meeting.
At this point Faye Alexander, chairperson of Central Craft, wanted a clear answer on how much of the project is a fait accompli.
Mr Rollason said architectural drawings are almost complete and will be made available in the next few weeks and that comment will be taken on them.
Ms Alexander repeated her question: "Is it a fait accompli?"
"No," said Mr Rollason.
Can the project be moved off the precinct? she asked.
Mr Rollason replied: "A lot of people have expressed that they don't want it in there – we'll have to consider that."
When architect Domenico Pecorari asked, to applause, whether a decision on the tender could be delayed until the aesthetics of the project have been fully considered, Mr Rollason replied, "Anything is possible", but delay could mean that the project wouldn't happen at all, he said.
More than one speaker from the floor asked about what alternatives had been considered.
Mounting photovoltaic panels on the north-facing roof had been rejected, said Mr Ramachandra, because the roof was not large enough to take all of the panels required (to achieve comparable energy savings), and OH & S considerations would require the installation of platforms for the maintenance work, making the option cost prohibitive.
The information sheet on this issue says: "Photovoltaic technology is rarely used in air-conditioning applications due to the high in-rush currents, peak cooling demands and battery storage area required".
It also says the cost "in this instance" would have been in excess of $3m, nearly three times higher than the installed cost of the proposed solar troughs and absorption chiller.
There was general acceptance and endorsement of the "green" aspirations of the project but challenges to the weighting given to its "iconic" aspect, which will be achieved at the cost of the character of the eastern side of the precinct. 
It was suggested, for instance, that the electricity generation capacity of the solar project proposed for Ilparpa be expanded to offset Araluen's energy consumption – this would achieve carbon abatement without impacting on the precinct.
The passive energy efficiency of the Araluen building could also be improved.
Mr Rollason outlined some of the improvements made, including insulating the ceilings in the galleries.
However, to a question from the Alice News, he acknowledged that the large roof area over the theatre has not been insulated and to date this is not in the program of works.
The theatre is not used every day and the galleries, which are, have been isolated from it (previously Gallery Three's ceiling cavity was open onto the theatre), said Mr Rollason.
There were questions around the technology's claim to be "cutting edge".
Will it still be cutting edge in five years' time? asked Nicky Schonkala, textile artist and project manager at Central Craft.
Brian Elmer from Alice Solar City said the technology concentrates the sun's energy and that is at the forefront of where solar technology is going now.
Mr Wilson understood, from what he has read, that the technology is "proven to a point" – what were the advances of the system being proposed for Araluen?
Mr Ramachandra said improvements included how the troughs track the sun and refinements in the chiller controls.



Back to our home page.