Grocon today unveiled new wind turbine technology atop its carbon neutral Pixel building in Carlton.

CEO Daniel Grollo said there would be three wind turbines on the building's Green Roof, with the first installed only last week.

"These wind turbines have a vertical axis, meaning they spin around a pole, unlike wind turbines on wind farms with a horizontal axis," he said. "They are 1 kilowatt in capacity, meaning they can generate more than 60 per cent of the electricity needed to power a typical Victorian home for a year. They could easily be used on suburban properties, with widespread saving implications for all households.

"At this stage, the three turbines on Pixel will be the largest contributors to the project's renewable energy features, enabling it to achieve its carbon neutral status."

The turbines have been made and tested in Bendigo and Ararat, with results verified by the University of Melbourne's Engineering Faculty.

Pixel will house Grocon's project team during the Carlton Brewery redevelopment and will be the first carbon neutral building of its kind in the world.

Other sustainable features include water self-sufficiency, a Green Roof planted with native grasses, environmentally friendly concrete used in construction and smart window technology, which allows automatic night cooling.

The roof turbines have been designed to operate in very low wind speeds and to reach their maximum generating capacity at exactly the wind speed typical of cities and suburban locations.

Mr Grollo said the turbines could give homeowners the ability to use another source of renewable energy.

"We will be able to install these turbines for much the same costs as a typical domestic solar panel system, but with a capacity three times greater," he said. "Unlike photovoltaic panels that obviously require the sun's energy, wind turbines generate power at night as well as during the day."

The turbines were invented by Antony Interlandi, a Victorian pilot and IT expert living in Bendigo. Antony has brought together his aeronautical expertise, with his IT and engineering experience, to design a turbine system that Grocon is patenting worldwide.

Grocon has bought the design from Mr Interlandi and plans to increase the capacity and the manufacturing approach to produce turbines that could power larger buildings.

Unlike some of the systems now in use, the turbine does not need an electric engine to start the spinning and is not so heavy that it requires a stiff wind to begin to produce useful power output.

Project Director for the Carlton Brewery redevelopment, David Waldren, said the Pixel turbines' performance would be monitored and the output they generate will be tracked. "As well as powering Pixel, the excess energy the turbines produce will be fed back into the electricity grid," he said.

"Grocon will develop the technology so that turbines as large as 30 kilowatts can be tested. Turbines with that capacity will make a significant contribution to the power used by large commercial buildings, retail centres and industrial facilities.

"We believe our approach will put a Victorian invention and Victorian ingenuity at the forefront of this hugely expanding market."

The Pixel building will be completed by June 30.

Grocon

Grocon

Grocon is a privately owned Australian construction, development and funds management company, started by Luigi Grollo in Melbourne in the 1950s. The current CEO is his grandson, Daniel Grollo, and the company has expanded during the past 50 years to Sydney and Brisbane, and also has an office in Dubai in the Middle East. It has built many iconic structures throughout Australia, such as the 300 metre tall Eureka Tower in Melbourne. Grocon has recently completed a carbon neutral building called Pixel, believed to be the first of its kind in the world. It is also constructing facilities for the chronically homeless in Australia's eastern states, in partnership with the not for profit sector, based on the Common Ground model which originated in New York.

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