The remote sites form part of an emergency services communications network used by Victoria’s emergency services authorities, spanning 97% of the state.

Each site is equipped with a solar-diesel hybrid system, installed and managed by LSE Technologies.

LSE contracted Western Australian renewable energy company Solar Sales to design and supply the remote solar power systems, with SolarSales providing additional technical assistance to the installation team.

“The design of the solar system was fairly easy compared to the task of developing a shelter which had to fit perfectly over telecommunication huts and protect it from extreme weather conditions like harsh winds and extreme snow loadings,” said Solar Sales senior sales and design consultant Durmus Yildiz.

Typically, photovoltaic (PV) arrays are positioned to gain maximum exposure to the sun during the day, but in the telecommunications installation, the array had to be tilted higher in order to stop snow from accumulating and blocking the sun.

The surface of the array is typically 10 or 20 degrees higher than the ambient temperature, which is generally hot enough to melt the snow or make it soft enough to slide down the incline.

Each telecommunications site is now powered by 12 black-surfaced SunPower 200W high efficiency modules with three Blue Sky Energy Maximum Power Point Tracking controllers, which convert the DC current from the PV array for power applications and charging a 48-volt maintenance-free Enersys battery bank.

Although the PV array is part of a solar-diesel hybrid system, LSE Technologies’ power specialist Ross Hand said he was very impressed with the solar system, as diesel has not been used at any of the sites since the installations have been complete.

“We were expecting up to three to four diesel events a year, but to date we haven’t had any, and the sites have been running for at least six months,” Hand said.

Hand said the use of the maximum power point tracking controllers ensured that the power system was able to avoid a great deal of the waste traditionally associated with PV solar systems, by ensuring the batteries are always being charged at maximum efficiency.

“We were expecting to get diesel events early in the morning, after about five or six hours of darkness, but it hasn’t happened yet,” he said.

Despite poor light conditions over long periods in the winter, Hand was confident that the solar systems would continue to perform better than his original expectations.

“There is a concern that during heavy snowfalls the arrays might become completely covered in snow, which we would mean we’d have to get someone out there to move it, but we’re very happy with the system so far.”