the impetus

4
THE IMPETUS What is UQ Solar? In 2011, The University of Queensland installed Australia’s largest rooftop photovoltaic solar energy generating system at UQ St Lucia: a $7.75 million, 1.22 megawatt photovoltaic solar array, including an 8.4 kilowatt concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) array. Why invest in solar? With an ever-increasing demand for electricity, now is the right time for Queensland to take advantage of its abundant natural resource: 2700 hours of sunshine a year. Not only does the UQ Solar power system save on UQ’s electricity costs, it is also a research test-site for environmental sustainability scientists and demonstrates UQ’s commitment to clean energy. Experiments will include comparing data between different solar power capture and storage systems to determine which are the most efficient; and developing and refining techniques that will allow other greenhouse-friendly power generating plants to feed into the electricity grid in the future. Specifically, experiments will be conducted on how one megawatt-plus size alternative energy sources will interact with the power grid (Next generation battery storage), how the concentrating photovoltaic array compares with flat panel technology (Concentrating photovoltaic array), and how shading affects the amount of solar power generated (Shading analysis/smart modules). Who made it possible? The University of Queensland funded the system with a $1.5 million contribution from the Queensland Government. UQ’s technology partners also strongly supported the project. Brisbane solar company Ingenero installed more than 5000 polycrystalline silicon solar panels across four building roofs, and also donated the SolFocus CPV array. Trina Solar, one of the world’s leading manufacturers, made the panels, and Power-One made the inverters. RedFlow, a local company established by two UQ graduates, Chris and Alex Winter, made and installed the battery. And Energex, Brisbane’s network distribution company, provided $90,000 to assist in developing specialised computer software to monitor the quality of the solar power feed and how it interacts with the local grid network.

Upload: vandang

Post on 03-Feb-2017

232 views

Category:

Documents


2 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: THE IMPETUS

THE IMPETUS

What is UQ Solar?In 2011, The University of Queensland installed Australia’s largest rooftop photovoltaic solar energy generating system at UQ St Lucia: a $7.75 million, 1.22 megawatt photovoltaic solar array, including an 8.4 kilowatt concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) array.

Why invest in solar?With an ever-increasing demand for electricity, now is the right time for Queensland to take advantage of its abundant natural resource: 2700 hours of sunshine a year.

Not only does the UQ Solar power system save on UQ’s electricity costs, it is also a research test-site for environmental sustainability scientists and demonstrates UQ’s commitment to clean energy.

Experiments will include comparing data between different solar power capture and storage systems to determine which are the most efficient; and developing and refining techniques that will allow other greenhouse-friendly power generating plants to feed into the electricity grid in the future.

Specifically, experiments will be conducted on how one megawatt-plus size alternative energy sources will interact with the power grid (Next generation battery storage), how the concentrating photovoltaic array compares with flat panel technology (Concentrating photovoltaic array), and how shading affects the amount of solar power generated (Shading analysis/smart modules).

Who made it possible?The University of Queensland funded the system with a $1.5 million contribution from the Queensland Government. UQ’s technology partners also strongly supported the project.

Brisbane solar company Ingenero installed more than 5000 polycrystalline silicon solar panels across four building roofs, and also donated the SolFocus CPV array.

Trina Solar, one of the world’s leading manufacturers, made the panels, and Power-One made the inverters.

RedFlow, a local company established by two UQ graduates, Chris and Alex Winter, made and installed the battery.

And Energex, Brisbane’s network distribution company, provided $90,000 to assist in developing specialised computer software to monitor the quality of the solar power feed and how it interacts with the local grid network.

Page 2: THE IMPETUS

THE LOCATION

Australia’s largest rooftop photovoltaic solar installation is at UQ St Lucia in Brisbane, Queensland. More than 5000 polycrystalline silicon solar panels are spread across four building roofs,

covering a space equivalent to one-and-a-half rugby fields.

Photovoltaic solar array panels: UQ Centre (1806 panels)

UQ Solar Research Centre

Photovoltaic solar array panels: Sir Llew Edwards building (374 panels)

Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) array

Photovoltaic solar array panels: Multi-storey carparks (1412 panels each)

Page 3: THE IMPETUS

Project data displayed on

THE PROCESS

The 1.22 megawatt photovoltaic solar array generates electricity for The University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus in Brisbane. The array is Australia’s biggest rooftop solar installation and underpins research

projects in diverse areas including physics, economics and sustainability.

1.22 megawatt photovoltaic solar arrayUQ has installed more than 5000 240W flat solar panels across four building roofs at the St Lucia campus, with 91 inverters, an 8.4kW CPV tracking array, and a megawatt-class electricity storage system (battery). The complete system has been established not only to save UQ power costs, but also to compare electricity generation using different variables. Data generated from the system is streamed live across the Internet and projected on LCD screens in UQ’s Solar Research Centre. Research results will be used to apply to other renewable energy sources.

About the concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) array To complement and compare with the flat panel system, UQ installed a ground-mounted CPV array near the multi-storey carparks. By rotating almost 180° and tilting up and down, it will automatically track the exact sun angle at all times of the day, every day of the year, and will produce full output from all sun during the day (unlike flat panels which produce full output only during the few hours either side of midday). This results in more energy generation per kW of solar panels installed.

UQ Solar

Page 4: THE IMPETUS

THE BENEFITS

Working togetherBy combining the skills of solar industry leaders with the expertise of a wide variety of UQ engineers, researchers and academics, The University of Queensland has been able to install a solar power system almost 25 percent larger than any other rooftop system in Australia.

And the research conducted to rank UQ St Lucia buildings, in terms of shading and roof strengthening requirements, will prove very useful for future enterprises considering installing their own solar power systems.

Saving UQ electricity costsThe system will generate around six percent of UQ St Lucia’s average peak electricity demand. Depending on future electricity costs, the infrastructure should pay for itself within 10-12 years, and so save even more.

The “sunshine state” takes on a whole new meaning at The University of Queensland with the analysis of renewable energy options for the future, see: www.uq.edu.au/sustainability/uq-solar-projects

Saving greenhouse gas emissionsAround 1750 tonnes will be saved at UQ St Lucia – about the same as taking 335 cars off the road each year.

Boosting other “green” researchThe challenge with solar power, like many other alternative energy sources, is inconsistency: when it is cloudy, less power is produced!

The UQ solar array panels have been set up to allow researchers to experiment with different ways of storing and collecting energy consistently, and how best to feed energy from stand-alone generating plants into the electricity grid.

Once results from these experiments have been analysed, they will be able to be used in a range of other renewable (but intermittent) sources such as wind, wave or biomass.