What were some of the custom engineering challenges for the solar power installation at the ARC?
Synopsis
The ARC Campbelltown project was won by Generate Energy after being tendered out by the Campbelltown Council. The initial challenge was the building couldn't hold the load of the solar panels, so they had to get creative with engineering. Commercial buildings pose different challenges, requiring specialized engineering of roofs and shading objects from air-conditioning ducts, vents and flues. To match a solar panel system based on the demand of energy for commercial businesses, we analyze their electricity meter's interval data to paint a picture of their consumption profile. The size of the system at ARC Campbelltown was 174 kilowatts, spread across three roof areas and 432 panels using LG Commercial 72-cell panels. The engineering had tight tolerances to the weight loading of the building, requiring risers engineered to integrate into the building, which was a custom job that the team enjoyed.
Commercial operations require a long-term return on investment, so having a product that's warranted for output and generation for 25 years is ideal. By using LG panels, they achieved the tender requirements with less weight and fewer panels, which decreased the overall load of the array. Companies are specifying higher quality products, such as the high-efficiency panel used in the ARC Campbelltown project, to provide a long-term return with minimal fuss over time.
Video Transcript
- The ARC Campbelltown was a project tendered out by the Campbelltown Council, that Generate Energy won. The challenges of the ARC was the building couldn't actually hold the load of the solar panels initially, so we had to get creative with engineering.
- Commercial buildings are a different kettle of fish altogether. You've got engineering of roofs, and shading objects from air-conditioning ducts, and vents and flues coming out, so we really need to hone in and specialize, and again, see what the demand of energy for the commercial businesses are, and get their interval data from their electricity meter so we can paint a picture of their consumption profile, and then we try and match a solar panel system based on that consumption profile, and the available roof-space that we have for the client.
- [Jarrod] The size of the system was 174 kilowatts. It was 432 panels all up, of the 400 watt LG Commercial 72-cell panels. There was three roof areas that the system was spread across. There was two sections that had tilted panels, and there was also a section where the panels were laid flat on the roofs. So at the ARC Campbelltown we actually had to have risers engineered that actually integrated into the existing structure of the building. We had GANT Energy engineering weld them into place for us. It's what out Schletter rails actually attach to, on top of those, and then the panels on top of that. So, the engineering had quite tight tolerances to the weight loading of the building, and these risers were engineered especially to integrate into the building. It was a custom job that we were comfortable doing. We quite enjoyed the challenge.
- For commercial operations, return on investment's even more important, because they're going to, in the long haul, they're not in and out of the businesses within a short period of time, so having a product that's going to be warranted for output and generation, for 25 years, is ideal.
- Well we could achieve the ARC's tender requirements with the size of the system, by using less panels, and therefore less weight. One of the advantages of using the LG panels were we use less of the panels, and therefore overall, the overall load of the array was decreased. Yeah, companies are specifying higher quality products. The ARC Campbelltown specified a high-efficiency panel, because they had limitations of the roof-loading on the actual building. They want a product that's going to provide a long-term return with minimal fuss over the test of time.