Despite COVID-19 alcohol restrictions dominating the headlines of late, liquor retailer Dan Murphy’s has returned its focus to sustainability with the opening of its most energy efficient store to date.

The new Dan Murphy’s store in Batemans Bay features an electric car charging station, LED lighting to help reduce energy consumption, and a 53KWH solar roof system which offsets a large portion of the store’s energy usage.

“We are making our stores more sustainable and this is our most energy efficient example to date, and we thought it would be valued in a community such as Batemans Bay,” Tyson Holbery, national renewal operations manager for Dan Murphy’s said.

The car charging station uses the Tritium High Power Charging (HPC) system, which can charge an electric vehicle battery to 80 per cent of its capacity in 40 minutes, and is the first to be introduced by the retailer at a store.

“There are 168 solar panels on this store, and the system is estimated to generate enough solar energy to offset approximately 35 percent of the store’s annual power consumption and save approximately 56 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually,” Holbery explained.

Due to the impact of bushfire on the area, the store had no grid power until the week of opening, and it wasn’t until then that the green energy elements could be fully realised.

Solar power is becoming a popular feature of Dan Murphy’s stores, with 16 stores in the network now using solar power, that store figure rises to 35 under the Endeavour Drinks umbrella.

The opening of the store has seen 23 new team members brought on-board, and while the retailer had planned a BBQ to celebrate the opening with the Batemans Bay community, it has been postponed until Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.