A large solar power system
RAPS CASE STUDY
The Stone Homestead is located on Moonaree Station, near Lake Gairdner in South Australia. Power consumption is quite high, and as a result the homestead required a large solar power system. The homestead uses 240 volt AC appliances including an evaporative cooling system, microwave oven, a refrigerator and a freezer.
The system
The majority of electricity is generated by an array of twenty-eight 75 watt photovoltaic modules mounted on four array frames. This 2.1kW array feeds power into a battery bank consisting of forty-eight 566 amp-hour cells, providing 54 kilowatt-hours of energy storage.
A 3kVA sinewave inverter/charger converts the extra low voltage DC electricity from the batteries to 240 volt AC electricity to power the homestead. This combined inverter/charger also allows the batteries to be charged from the 8.5kVA Diesel backup generator during times of low solar input.
Performance
The system has performed reliably, with the solar array providing around 70% of the energy required to run the homestead. The only maintenance required has been the routine topping-up of battery electrolyte levels and servicing of the generator.
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