Clean energy engineering specialist eco-Kinetics said that the project, for property owner Local Government Super (LGS), is one of the biggest solar panel projects on an Australian commercial property. The property is an existing 1980s era office building owned by LGS and located in the high-tech commercial zone at Macquarie Park, near North Ryde, New South Wales.

Engineering a solution

During the tendering process, building owner LGS was advised by one of the tendering groups that “A 100 kilowatt system cannot be fitted on this roof and if anyone tells you differently they do not know anything about solar.”

The original concept being considered by LGS was a 62 kilowatt peak (kWp) system.

eco-Kinetics was able to demonstrate a better outcome by re-engineering the original concept and lifting this to 100 kilowatts, significantly improving electricity generation, efficiencies and reducing carbon emission rates.

To accommodate the larger system, eco-Kinetics relocated the existing curved facade of the building to the adjacent side, reusing all materials on site.

Energy reduction

Enabling the building to be powered by solar energy was a key element of a strategy to reduce its energy cost and carbon footprint.

The solar panel project was partially funded by a grant from the Federal Government’s Green Building Fund. Building owner, LGS, successfully applied for six Green Building Fund grants as part of its Sustainable Portfolio Program to upgrade the 1980s era office buildings in its portfolio to a 5 star NABERS energy rating.

The energy reduction project for the Macquarie Park building included:

• Installation of eco-Kinetics solar panel system
• Upgrades to base lighting
• Implementation of the Shaw Method of air-conditioning
• Recalibration of the building management system.

eco-Kinetics’ solar system

The 99.9 kWp solar panel project includes 555 PV modules and 99 kW grid connected inverters installed on two purpose built large scale steel structures on the roof of the building.

The system consists of a 180 Wp module photovoltaic (PV) array and 9 x 11,000 Wp grid-connect inverters. The array is split in two to be mounted on two different sections of the roof. The first system array is mounted across the flat roof top on angle frames to optimise yield, with the second system array mounted directly onto the facade structure to maximise energy output for the space available.

The solar panels will generate 134 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity a year and save 142 tonnes of CO2 reduction.

A public monitor in the building foyer logs and displays total power generated, CO2 reduction in tonnes, irradiance, temperature and total energy.

eco-Kinetics completed the project within budget and on time.

LGS expects the payback period from the solar initiative will be less than ten years.

Green power

Following installation of the solar panel system, the building now sources 100 per cent of its base building energy from fully accredited green power. Furthermore, all new leases require tenants to source their power from green energy suppliers.

Other projects Solar Farms

eco-Kinetics has completed detailed design and planning for several Megawatt Scale solar farms. These include PV and concentrated solar power (CPV) systems.

eco-Kinetics has also been selected to install an 8 MW project in Thailand and further projects in Italy and Europe.

Other projects include rooftop installations on council buildings, ground mounted systems on farms and vineyards, as well as large scale systems for universities and private investors.

A recent project included a contract for the Queensland Government to design, supply and install PV systems in various sizes and configurations to residents throughout the state. eco-Kinetics adopted a project approach for this multiple site contract, rather than treating each installation as a separate job by managing the distribution and installation at the various sites. This contract was completed on time and within budget. The success of this project has led to eco-Kinetics being a preferred industry partner in Australia for fast roll out and installation of multiple site projects with the company awarded a range of similar projects.

Reflecting growing interest in solar energy, eco-Kinetics is currently installing a solar energy system every 30 minutes.

System details

• 555 X 180 watt mono-crystalline modules in the array
• Made up of 9 X sub-arrays
• Each sub-array is made up of 5 X strings with the modules connected in series
• Each sub-array incorporates marshalling boxes housing string fuses for protection and isolation purposes
• 9 X SMA SMC 11,000 TL transformerless inverters with efficiencies up to 98 per cent installed to provide a balanced 3 phase supply
• System incorporates a data logging and flashview monitoring system which logs and displays key information on a public monitor in the foyer.