Bai Communications reported that Broadcast Australia has been awarded the IABM International Award for Excellence in Sustainability. The broadcast company was recognised for successfully introducing a renewable energy Solar PV solution on their Muswellbrook site in New South Wales.
The PV system uses advanced German battery storage technology, which is coupled with 156 solar panels. The solar power system has allowed Broadcast Australia to take a remote site most entirely off the grid while continuing to deliver quality broadcasting, radio and critical emergency services for their customers and over 50,000 users within a 500 kilometer radius.
The 72 German technology batteries can store up to 215 kilowatt-hours, which produces enough energy in running the Muswellbrook transmission system for up to 43 hours and just take 5.5 hours to recharge at full efficiency. The broadcast company had made a commitment to reduce their carbon footprint by 10% by the year 2019. They’ve also entered a partnership with Photon Energy in testing this innovative solution.
Just like any other PV solutions, it has had its challenges. The solar power solution needed to be reliable enough to meet a 24 hour/day load requirement while still being commercially viable. The site consumed over 40 megawatt-hours from the grid on a yearly basis, thus the system had to produce enough power to maintain maximum performance once offline.
To meet this daily requirement, the Broadcast Australia team designed a system of solar PV producing 39 kWp, 72 batteries producing 215 kilowatt-hours, alongside 3 SMA inverters that can be monitored and checked online. The existing diesel generator was made as a backup system to counter periods of adverse sunlight
The solar power solution was launched in 2014 and reached savings of 38 megawatt-hours yearly, and with a complete reduction in outages and zero disruption to services for their loyal customers.
Following this successful renewable green initiative, Broadcast Australia will install a second solar solution on their Mount Owen site in Tasmania.
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Featured Image Credit: Delaware Cooperative Extension
Solar Trust Centre Team
