Aged care facility goes solar in Victoria

rsz_solar-panels-closeup-150x150An aged care facility in Victoria has just installed a 100kW rooftop solar system, which it says will deliver an internal rate of return of around 20 per cent per year.

The system installed by energywired, using SolarMax inverters and Yingli modules, is located at the Olivet Aged Persons Home in Ringwood, Victoria, and will generate more than 130.5MWh, cutting its annual bills by around $34,000.

“Olivet Aged Persons Home is a not for profit organisation that cares for the elderly. Investing in solar energy will reduce our electricity bills and this will ensure we can draw on its financial benefits in the long run,” CEO Julian Simpkins said in a statement.

Clifford Wigg, head of energywired saids olar energy offers a “true competitive advantage” to any organization.

The facility will feature seven 15kW 15MT2 and one 10kW 10MT2 grid connected inverters provided by SolarMax, and 400 x 250kW Yingli solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. It will also feature MaxWeb, a  remote monitoring platform that provides a real-time display of performance data such as input and output voltages, input and output currents, frequency, device temperature and yield.

Comments

9 responses to “Aged care facility goes solar in Victoria”

  1. Daniel Ball Avatar
    Daniel Ball

    Something doesn’t add up. Assuming all panels are not North facing and the tariff is less than 20c/kwh, I calculate the savings at closer to $25,000/year

    1. Catprog Avatar
      Catprog

      I calculate the tariff at 26c/Kwh

      1. Daniel Ball Avatar
        Daniel Ball

        On Nearmaps the system shows approx. 25kW of panels facing NE and 75kW of panels facing NW. Using CEC guidelines this will generate an average of 320kWh/day (ignoring system losses) and assuming the Aged Care Facility pays around 19c/kWh for electricity, the saving will only be around $22K/year (and this doesn’t include ongoing maintenance or interest charges associated with finance).

        I hope the customer has no set expectations !

        1. Catprog Avatar
          Catprog

          Or 120MWh/ year using the CEC guidelines.

          Given that those numbers are about equal to what they say they will generate I think their tariff is actually closer to 26c/Kwh.

          1. Daniel Ball Avatar
            Daniel Ball

            If a premises is using that much elect, during the day and paying 26c/Kwh they should shop around for better Provider.

            Naturally Commercial solar is ideal and a no brainer if paying over 25c/kWh. But I guess this will change soon thanks to the current Government !

  2. Alen Avatar
    Alen

    The inverter:panel ratio is in favour of the inverter, i.e. 115 kW inverter capacity versus 100 kW panels, is there a reason behind choosing this set-up rather than oversizing panel:inverter ratio, say 230 kW worth of panels and 115 kW inverters and thus even out the actual power output?

    1. Ronald Brakels Avatar
      Ronald Brakels

      Oversized inverters won’t run as hot and they’ll last longer, sacrificing some output for lower running costs. In practice the exact inverter to PV ratio probably depends a lot on what sort of deal they could get and what sort of guarantees were offered. And then there’s always the option of adding more solar panels later.

  3. Greg Churm Avatar
    Greg Churm

    In a facility like that no energy from the solar panels would ever leave the site would be my guess. So the value of energy from the solar panels is the marginal cost of electricity. My guess is that would be around 28 cents. It is better to oversize the inverters as in some cases like cold weather and intense sunshine like we can get this time of the year the panels could produce slightly over their stated output. e.g. my 2.8kW system has maxed out at 3.23kW

    1. Daniel Ball Avatar
      Daniel Ball

      I’ve quoted numerous 100kW solar systems on Aged Care facilities in Victoria and have not yet seen an electricity tariff higher than 19c/kWh. This detail is important, as to provide realistic cost saving expectations to the customer.

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