The Location:

Tulka, South Australia [southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula]

The Brief:

Our client is planning their seaside retirement home, which required a fully stand alone power system and battery with minimum demand on fossil fuel.

The Design Process:

At the beginning of the project we had an open and detailed conversation with our client to understand their requirements, budget, and the best hardware and battery options available to suit.

One of the requests was to include an electric cooktop, and following our comprehensive anticipated load/energy consumption profile, we were able to confirm this feature as a feasible option.

We identified an anticipated daily consumption of 15kwh, and scoped the hardware solution accordingly (see below).

Due to the high bushfire risk in the area, a diesel generator was recommended over petrol, and a tailored shed mount solar PV array was designed to maximise the available north facing roof space.

The system had to be built as soon as the shed went up to enable builders and trades to have access to site power without having to run generators.

The Solution:

8KwP solar PV array which completely covered the north facing aspect consisting of:

• 28 x Trina honey 290 w panel
• Configured as an ac coupled system consisting of:
  • 2 x SMA Sunny Boy 5000tl-21 inverters
  • 1 x SMA Sunny Island 8.0H
  • 1 x 48v/19.6KWh-c10 to 30%DOD with 3 days autonomy battery consisting of 24 x 2.0v Sonnenscheim solar A602/1695-SOLAR in a purpose built room
  • 1 x back up/demand response Yanmar diesel 6.8kva auto start generator

The Result:

We are proud to have designed, developed and installed a robust system which has the capacity to suite the two person household, as well as being able to cope with extended family visits.