LOCATION
This farm is located just off the Eneabba-Carnamah road, approximately 4 hours drive from Perth. The farm's main enterprise is sheep and wool, and this is supplemented with various grain crops.
CONSTRUCTION
A fibre board and tin roofed 3 bedroom farm house, with a large farm shed and shearing shed.
THE SYSTEM
The system provides all power to the property including the shearing shed. It has a 1 kW solar array on a tracking frame, a 12 kWh battery bank, 5 kVA diesel with auto-start system and 2.5 kVA inverter. The system is housed in a small shed built on to the side of the large farm shed, with the solar panels about 30 m away. The shed is approximately 150 m from the house. The shearers found that the shearing heads seemed to have more power when running from the inverter compared to the generator.
INSTALLATION
The cost of the system components and installation in November 1994 was $19,000. The installation was completed by the supplier in three days.
RELIABILITY
The system has provided power as needed. Initial problems were encountered with the diesel automatic controller which was starting the diesel too frequently. This was readjusted by the supplier and is functioning correctly now. The tracking system for the solar array did not track correctly on cloudy days, due to incorrect balance of gases in the system. A new set of cylinders was sent by the manufacturer to replace the old ones and the tracker is now working correctly.
MAINTENANCE
Very little maintenance is required. The main tasks are the regular checks of battery condition and the adding of distilled water as required. Maintenance is also required on the diesel generator but this is dependent on the amount of use.
RUNNING COSTS
Costs will vary from year to year and are likely to increase as system ages. Battery replacement is likely to be the major item and it would be prudent to assume a need to replace batteries about every 5 to 10 years. There will need to be on going service of the generator. The generator is only used when the site load is high or during periods of inclement weather for additional battery charging. Due care and proper maintenance will prolong the life of most components of the system.
REASON FOR SELECTION
The system now provides the home with 24 hour power and has significantly reduced the diesel running costs.
| E Q U I P M E N T S P E C I F I C A T I O N |
Solar Modules
12 only Solarex MSX83 panels.
Regulator
1 only Suntron 24 V DC 32 A solar regulator.
Batteries
12 only Century SS500-2, (capacity is 500 Ampere hours at C10 rate)
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Inverter/ Charger
1 only AES Sinemax 24 V DC, 240 V AC, 2.5 kVA sinewave inverter/charger with series control and system metering.
Generator
1 only 4.5 kVA diesel generator with auto start facilities.
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