How are 400W optimised solar panels helping an RSL club to maximise their available roof space?
Synopsis
We're at the Kedron-Wavell Services Club at Chermside, where a commercial solar installation has been set up utilising 400 watt panels. This installation is a 100 kilowatt installation and was set up to maximise energy reduction. The club has high energy consumption, so the aim was to reduce the bills as much as possible. Initially, the plan was to have a 350 kilowatt installation, but due to weight capacity on the roof, it was scaled back to 100 kilowatts. This is the first stage of a potentially larger installation, with plans to add new buildings and a new car park.
The 400 watt module was chosen to maximise energy in the small roof space and to squeeze as much energy out of the limited roof space. With high efficiency modules, more watts per square metre were obtained, which meant less weight. The system is 100% self-consumed, and is an optimised solution, with an optimiser under every panel. The technology allows for more wattage in areas that are normally difficult to reach, and higher daily production.
Video Transcript
We're at the Kedron-Wavell Services Club at Chermside, on the north side of Brisbane. This is a commercial solar installation utilising 400 watt panels, these are larger frame panel. They're a 72 cell module, and this is a hundred kilowatt installation. The brief was from the client to maximise their energy reduction. So we tried to fit as much solar as we could on the roof. The club like this has very high energy bills, very high energy consumption. What we're trying to achieve here, is a maximum reduction in bill. So initially we are looking at 350 kilowatt installation here. We had challenges with the weight capacity on the roof.
So, had an engineer come out and look at it and we had to scale it back to a 100 kilowatts. So we've done a a 100 kilowatt installation here, but this is stage one of potentially a much larger installation. We're looking at new buildings, new car park. We've got walkways between each panel, that's just because the panels had to sit right over the purlins. So we've got a gap between each panel to allow the system to be installed. Big walkways up the middle, access is good, on the far side gets quite steep. We had to stay off that steep part of the roof and maximise the top surface of the roof.
Yeah so to maximise our energy in the small roof space that we had, we've gone to 400 watt module just to try and squeeze as much energy at that roof. While using a high efficiency module, we're getting more watts per square metre, which equates to less weight. So, it did mean that we were getting more wattage in the limited roof space we had. A 100 kilowatts of solar, 82 kilowatts of inverter capacity, this is a large club, this system helps with some of their energy usage. The energy consumption here is huge, the solar here is being a hundred percent self-consumed.
This is an optimised solution, so under every panel is a optimiser. So that allows the panels to mitigate the shade. The panels are working in groups and in strings, but there's a lot of plant equipment up there. The technology allows us to get more wattage in areas where we wouldn't normally, and allows us to get higher daily production.