Solar Power 12kW – South Brisbane, Qld
Project Overview
Somerville House girls school in South Brisbane built a new Junior Boarding House in late 2009 that was opened in early 2010.
A key aspect of the project was installation of a 12kW solar power system on the roof to take advantage of the Federal Governement’s National Solar Schools program. Requirements for this program included a comprehensive data logging system capable of transmitting hour by hour power production information to a web portal.
The Solar Guys partnered with SolarSchools.net to provide the web monitoring system in full compliance with NSSP requirements.
A key design win was gaining permission to move the module installation location from a flat roof with significant shade to an unshaded roof facing North.
The system features a kiosk display in the foyer of the building with readouts of the system’s power production and details from the SolarSchools.net website.
Solar Energy
The 12kW photovoltaic system was installed flush-mount onto the roof with some modules facing North at a pitch of 20° and other installed flat. The array is made up of 68 x Kyocera Solar KD180GH (180W) modules matched to 2 x SMA Sunny Mini Central 6000A (6.0kW) single-phase inverters.
The SolarSchools.net ‘hot-e’ data logging unit is installed adjacent to the inverters with the flat screen display powered by a local computer.