Custom Fluid Power Mackay Achieves a Great Result from Their Solar Investment
As an example of an optimal outcome for a commercial solar power system, on many levels, look no further than the result for Custom Fluid Power’s Mackay branch.
In 2016, Energy Base was asked to investigate the energy needs at the Mackay facility and submit a proposal for a solar power system.
After a walk-through of the workshop and office, it was agreed to take the first step in the design process, which was to obtain a meter data download, to obtain the 8760 data (24hr x 365 days).
Once this data was received, it was uploaded to our solar proposal calculator, allowing us to model a full years consumption against a full years solar generation.
We determined that a 38kW solar array, connected to a 30kW inverter system would give a great reduction in power bills.
Keeping to a 30kW inverter system allowed us to avoid additional costs of around $10,000 associated with >30kW systems, hence minimizing upfront investment whilst not sacrificing performance.
It would also bring further planned benefits in the future (more on that later)…
The calculator determined that energy from the solar system would result in imported energy from the grid being reduced by 37%
And a 33% Return on Investment in Year 1:
The installation was confirmed and the system was installed at the end of 2016.
- 38kW LG 285W solar modules (made in Korea)
- 25kW and 5kW SMA inverters (made in Germany)
12 months on, an evaulation of the performance and a comparison to the Proposal was made.
The accuracy of the result surprised even us!
The solar system produced 46.8MWh which offset 36% of the 126MWh total consumption.
Compared to the estimate of 37%, we were very happy with 1% error!
A bigger benefit after 12 months was the ability of the customer to have themselves re-rated as a ‘Small Business’ customer with Ergon, because their annual consumption was reduced to below 100MWh.
Therefore their energy rate was reduced from over 40c/kWh to around 28c/kWh, hence saving a further 1/3 of their remaining energy costs from the grid.
Further (!), because the inverter system was rated at 30kW and not larger, they are now able to apply to export excess solar energy to the grid to earn some credit on weekends.
Overall, you could call this a win-win-win-win scenario
- win (solar reduces energy costs – as always)
- win (perfect size solar installed thanks to correct 8760 data – no over-investment)
- win (reduction in Ergon tariff from Large to Small)
- win (solar export earning on weekends)
If you would like your business to have a win with solar, get in contact with Energy Base today!