Denman Prospect will soon be the first suburb with solar panels installed on every single rooftop – each house is to have a minimum of 3kWs of solar power installed.

The developers, Capital Estate Developments, say that each system installed will generate around 4.146kWs of clean electricity each year and avoid 3.7 tonnes of CO2 annually. They believe Denman Prospect will become one of the most liveable and most sought-after locations in Canberra. “By encouraging best building practices and creating environmentally friendly homes, Denman will become a leading suburb in sustainability,” says Capital Estate Developments.

The development is located 10 minutes drive from Canberra’s CBD. The first stage – around 2000 dwellings – is due to release this month with a total of 4200 homes to be released over 3 stages. In stage 1 (A and B) there is a minimum 20% of affordable housing including 72 public dwellings. The remaining two stages are expected to be released in 2017.

The ACT has a renewable energy target of 100% by 2025 that was announced in August of this year and this is one project that is going to help get them there. The ACT believes they will achieve 60% by 2017 and 80% by 2018. Canberra is also home to the 24MW Royalla Solar Farm that is one of Australia’s large scale solar power stations.

Of all the rules and regulations new land owners face these days when buying property in a development; this is definitely one of the more sensible ones. Will this be the start of a new covenant rule that all developers take on?