Coobool Downs Aquaculture Farm

Objectives & Site Considerations

After having run their Murray Cod Aquaculture operation from expensive labour-intensive diesel generators for years, Brett from Coobool Downs Pastoral Co wanted an alternative. Brett approached Off-Grid Energy to find a renewable energy solution to offset their annual $150,000 per year diesel generator bill for maintaining the fishponds.
The NSW Gov Seafood Innovation Fund provided ideal low-interest finance for the project.

Load Analysis

Ave Summer Demand: 375.2kWh/day ave
Ave Winter Demand: 608.1kWh/day ave
Demand Surge: 21 kVA

System Design

With some water pumps and aerators needing to run 24/7, careful consideration needed to be made in terms of system design. Reliability was very important to the client, with the risk of stock losses during a power outage.

There was plenty of space for the ground-mounted array frames in the paddock, and integration of the existing generator would be relatively painless.

• Sinexcel Bi-directional PCS (100kW) • Alpha C&I batteries (194kWh)
• Trina Solar modules (99.45kW)
• Sinexcel Charge Controller (200kW) • EMS Control System incl. monitoring

Project Outcome

The logistics of getting the Sinexcel Power Control System (PCS) into the battery room were tricky. A telehandler was used to get the nearly 1000kg unit into place in the battery room and the raised floor of the battery room needed to be solid to hold the weight of the PCS & batteries. Careful planning was needed to make sure there was adequate space for the equipment as well as keeping the PCS & batteries at a stable temperature, at a site in south-west NSW where temperatures can consistently hover in the high 30’s and 40’s.

Off-Grid Energy also managed to integrate his second generator into our system, where it plays a backup role to the first generator backing up the battery system, so in case of the first backup generator failing, the second unit will step up to the job to support.

Initial results look like Brett has reduced his running costs by around 75%, this isn’t just the diesel fuel, but also the generator maintenance, oil changes have gone from every 2 weeks to every 6 weeks and could probably be pushed further out. Fewer large services are now required every year and and handling of diesel fuel has also been drastically reduced. So, it’s not only the financial savings but the reduction in labour and hassle that comes with running generators 24/7.