Selectronic Australia

Upper Pakenham, Domestic Rural Property

Residential Case Study

Application Dual phase grid-connected with battery backup
Location Upper Pakenham, 70km SE Melbourne, VIC
System Objective Reduce power bills and provide backup power to entire house
Commissioned November, 2019
Installed PV 10 kW
Useable battery storage 33 kWh
Designed and installed by Lee Hampson Electrical

 

Image of solar panels installed on house

Background

Living in a rural bush location, Simon and Mandy Dunstan are often faced with loss of grid power. As another summer approached, the threat of bushfire was very real so they sought a solution that gave peace of mind and also help to reduce their power bills. The all electric home uses a rather high 70 units of electricity (kWh) per day.

Challenges

Shading of the solar panels was a potential issue on this site with surrounding trees. Simon and Mandy also wanted a discreet visual finish on the rooftop.

Despite having 5kW of Solar per phase, only 3.5kW was allowed to be exported back to the grid per phase, this caused the system designer to ensure that the Solar would be either used in the home or be charging the batteries, before exporting to the grid.

Solution

Solar panel optimisers were used to ensure maximum output at all times especially with the partial shading potential. Rooftop solar panels were mounted on a low angle for a discreet visual finish but also maximise peak sun hours.

The large battery bank was chosen for additional backup time and the ability to absorb the solar not used by the daytime house loads.

Outcomes and Benefits

To get the picture of this impressive system its best to hear from home owner Simon Dunstan, please watch the video below or click here.

System Components

Battery inverter Selectronic 2 x SPMC481-AU, 5 kW, 48V (1 per phase)
String inverter ABB 2 x 5kW UNO Selectronic Certified (1 per phase)
Solar PV Array LG

30 x LG325N panels (15 per phase)

Batteries Power Plus 10 x LiFe4833p LiFe Premium Rack Mount