Irrigation Pumping Queensland Farm 126.6kW Solar System
23/03/2023
With solar power becoming an increasingly popular way for farmers to increase irrigation pump efficiency and improve the future sustainability of their operations, one Queensland family recently made the switch.
The Sporne family contacted Managing Director Sam Gardel and within a week, Sam visited the cattle fattening operation in Munduberra to get the lay of the land. To ensure Gardel Electrical & Solar could design a cost-effective and quality system that would meet the family’s commercial and residential needs, Sam needed an understanding of how the farm operated and what the family’s energy needs were.
With six pumps across the thousand-acre property, used for everything from stock water to irrigation, the pumps were a major source of electricity consumption. In addition, Sam also discovered that there were eight energy metres on the property. By learning more about the day-to-day runnings of the farm, Sam was able to design a system that would remove four of these metres, while adding four solar systems, all improving irrigation pumping efficiency for daytime irrigation.
The team of trained solar designers and installers were able to implement a 126.6kW solar PV system for the Sporne family. To reduce the farm’s pumping costs, the team recommended the installation of:
three 40 kW solar systems with a total of 264 Canadian Solar 450-watt modules
one 6.6 kW solar system with 18 Canadian Solar 370-watt modules on the residential property
The commercial systems are mounted on the ground and on a shed using Clenergy's PV Easy Rack. Canadian Solar was selected due to its long and reliable history in the Australian market, good price point, and the size of the module.
This 126.6kW PV Solar System consists of:
Commercial:
3 x 40kW solar systems
264 x Canadian Solar Photovoltaic Module CS3W-450MS
3 x Sungrow SG30CX 30kW Three-Phase Inverter
Clenergy PVezRack mounting gear: Solar Terrace UX and Solar Terrace II
Clenergy Racking System to suit the shed roof profile
Residential:
1 x 16.6kW solar system
18 x Canadian Solar Photovoltaic Module CS3L-370MS-BF with the black frames
1 x Sungrow SG5K-D Premium 5kW Single Phase Inverter
1 x Sungrow S100 Smart Energy Meter
Clenergy Racking System to suit the residential roof profile
The systems have produced over 105MWh of energy (saving approximately $22,000) in the six months the systems have been installed.
The Sporne family has now saved over 45,000 kilograms of CO2 Emissions from entering the atmosphere, thanks to this high-quality Solar PV System. The system is currently responsible for generating over 80% of the total energy consumed by the farm in a year, reducing their electricity bills by this same amount.
The Self-Consumption Rate for this system = 65% in moderate rainfall periods and 90% in dry periods. We were able to get all the systems approved with full export so even when the pumps aren't running they are still saving money.
The self-consumption rate is the percentage of the total electricity generated, that was consumed by the site. Consuming as much of the energy generated as possible is the best way to get the highest return on investment for a solar system. This is because any energy that isn’t consumed by the property is fed back into the grid and, on average, is worth only half the value. For this reason, increasing the self-consumption rate is the key to getting the best savings from a solar system.
Big thanks to the Sporne family, Clenergy Australia, Sungrow & Canadian Solar for working alongside Gardel Electrical & Solar to design and create this system.
