Technicals

SOLAR PLUS BATTERY - A COMMUNITY FIRST

  • Number and type of panels: about 4000
  • Orientation of panels: fixed north facing
  • Total DC capacity of farm: 1.8 Mw
  • AC output of farm: 1.4 Mw
  • Area of land: approximately 2.2 hectares

The Goulburn community owned solar farm will be the first of its kind in Australia. Not only will the solar farm pump renewable energy into the grid, but installing a battery will allow the project to sell into the grid at the most financially advantageous time of the day (usually the late afternoon/evening), and this will ensure that the revenue and ROI is maintained at the projected levels.

  • Storage capacity of battery:  1200 kW, 2300  kWh
  • Connection point: North west corner of the property
  • Fimer DC/AC  skid mounted pre-wired inverter / transformer
  • Line voltage at connection: 33 KV

Technicals 1

New Fimer inverter / transformer

Sale of Electricity

There are several ways output from the farm can be sold, all through the grid:

In this method, energy is sold to one or more “loads” (normally large institutions, businesses, government agencies) at a fixed price over a fixed term. The institution may take all or part of the total output of the farm.

  • Pros: Certainty of revenue stream over fixed period (up to 5-10 years); if not fully subscribed, some output can still be sold through options 2 and 3
  • Cons: Price is normally lower than what can be achieved through other methods

The output of the farm is bought by a retailer and then on-sold to its customers as “Green Power”. Customers could be limited to people in the region (including Co-op members) as a first option and then others if not fully subscribed.

  • Pros: Certainty of revenue stream over fixed period (up to a year); members can purchase farm output from the retailer;
  • Cons: Price is normally lower than what can be achieved through other methods; customers might have to change retailers to the participating retailer.

Output is sold on the spot wholesale market through a broker.

  • Pros: On average, a considerably higher revenue stream than the first two options; less negotiation required, so easier to implement quickly; battery allows sale of energy at peak price points in the late afternoon / evening; PPA and Retail can be considered at a later date if appropriate and financially advantageous.
  • Cons: The wholesale price changes every five minutes, so revenue projections are more difficult; members do not have opportunity to purchase energy from the farm; 

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