Our client supplies power to a remote lake side private property with a power line that crosses a national park and state forest. The supply line represented a significant maintenance cost and bushfire risk.

In 2018 the location became a test site by the client for the use of Stand-Alone Power Systems (SAPS). In 2021 the site was impacted by floods and a new approach was needed for the stand alone site power solution.

• Maximise the use of solar array energy as the primary energy source, whilst minimising the annual diesel fuel use

• Providing resilient power that meets or exceeds site power obligations
• Design for coupling of additional solar arrays
• Load profile analysis of the multiple consumption scenarios including future demands
• Ease and frequency of servicing SAPS in the remote location
• Remote monitoring capability

Environmental and Safety Considerations:

• Minimise footprint of the SAPS unit, construction area and the impact to native landscape

• Requirement to raise off the ground, following the 2021 floods to mitigate against future flood risk and bushfire
• Safe distance from any potential risks
• Minimising noise disturbance
• Minimising ground disturbance
• Limiting the need for, and usage of, civil and heavy machinery
• Ensuring security and safety through restricted access
• Units per Australian Standards and legislative requirements

• Minimised network maintenance and upgrades, and the number of outages
• Back-up generator ensures no interruptions to power supply for customers
• Operating costs significantly reduced by removing traditional poles and wires
• Mitigated risk to future floods in the installation area
• Reduced maintenance cost as a result of less routine servicing or unplanned outages
• On-site maintenance reduced to once annually, to top up the diesel generator and service the system

Reliability and quality of power:

• Reduced risk of damage to power supply from extreme weather conditions
• Reduction of associated bushfire risks of traditional poles and wires
• Improved quality and evenness of power flow
• Better fault response due to the enhanced monitoring and communications in the SAPS