Last month we installed an off-grid system at a beautiful setting, high in the hills behind Eungella.
As you know the climate at Eungella is somewhat different compared to the rest of the region, after all the name Eungella means ‘land of the clouds’. We’ve been keeping an eye on the weather up there since this job was confirmed and often when its clear in Mackay it’s cloudy at Eungella.
When working on another off-grid job earlier this year during summer it was noted that the temperature differential between the top of the range and the bottom was about 8 degrees. This will be great during summer when air-con use would be less, solar performance will be better and the battery bank will be happier because they are cooler.
However the big difference will be that the maximum demand will likely occur in winter due to space heating requirements. We’ve already learnt that oil heaters us a LOT of power.
The new home is for a young growing family, so we know their power needs will increase over time.
All of this has been considered in the design of the system:
- use of highest efficiency LG Neon2 330W solar modules
- over-sized solar array to capture all the possible solar energy in cloudy weather, and for when the clouds (eventually) clear
- space left on the shed roof and on left side of the equipment board for future DC charging via an MPPT charge controller.
- battery bank / busbars arranged to allow easy expansion to 5 cabinets / 20 batteries = 50kWh
- auto-start generator hard-wired into the system as per Australian Standards
- due to the remoteness of the site, an additional ‘doomsday’ switch for a spare generator has been included in the extremely unlikely case of battery, inverter and main generator failure – we always think one step ahead at Energy Base!
The Victron Color Control GX allows both the customer and our service team to keep a close eye on all parameters of the system, as well as easy tweaking of settings as the system beds in.
And here’s a drone video of the surrounding area:
Call or write to us when you need remote solar and battery power!
