Today (December 7) Planet Ark Power launched Australia’s largest privately owned solar and smart battery rooftop power station on-site at Llewellyn Motors in Ipswich, Queensland. The new system has been designed and installed at the Llewellyn Motors premises by Planet Ark Power. The on-site power station, which consists of 1,232 REC solar panels, is expected to reduce the dealership’s carbon footprint by 8400 tonnes and save over $2 million on energy over the next twenty years.
But what makes it a power station? Generally, a power station is seen as a source of electricity feeding into the network. Currently most large commercial installations are not allowed to sell excess solar energy into the grid like residential solar as it may have a negative impact on the grid. Planet Ark Power will be demonstrating their new dSTATCOM technology developed to heal and support the grid which allows for commercial solar sites to export to the grid intelligently and significantly increase the return on investment (ROI). It does this by monitoring the power requirements of the grid and scaling the site’s power output to match the grid.
“The dSTATCOM technology on display at Llewellyn Motors is the missing link. The ability to export to the grid as a norm and not an exception will give businesses with large roof space the confidence to install more solar PV on their roofs than required for their own usage. This can turn businesses roofs into an income generating asset,” said Paul Klymenko, Planet Ark's CEO.
Another key to the ability to export reliable, good quality power is the smart battery, also developed in-house by Planet Ark Power’s R&D sister company Elevare Energy. The smart battery will be able to store a portion of the unused power, then be able to determine the optimal time to sell the energy into the grid, such as during peak demand, to not only generate an income stream for Llewellyn Motors but to relieve the demand on the grid at the same time.
Over coming weeks we'll be sharing media coverage of the event, which was attended by the Member for Ipswich Jennifer Howard MP.
Positive Actions
- If you're in government, business or a community group looking to solar get in touch with the team at Planet Ark Power
- If you're a homeowner or building manager look into residential rooftop solar options and join the growing number of Australians powering their hot water and homes with the sun
Sources
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Positive Environment News has been compiled using publicly available information. Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.