ProTen

ProTen has maintained a longstanding relationship with Smart Commercial Solar, and have been able to realise major savings as they’ve invested in many multi-array ground mount sites, each up to 800kW.

 

Delivering these systems have required Smart's project management team to navigate complex site requirements:

• Very strict access requirements with a focus on biological material and contamination protocols
• Ventilation system and live population dependant on electricity supply, 0% tolerance on downtime or operational risk
• Focus on scanning, geo-tech, service avoidance during install
• Installing within a working chicken farm and navigating bio-health controls whilst moving from site to site
• The rural nature of these projects results in less bandwidth in the local electrical grid, requiring zero export and power quality considerations in design.

 

Smart's design team identified a framing system that would help speed up the installation of ground mounted systems, leading to 25% faster installations across the board. Smart also identified that there was a power factor problem on site due to the large amount of heavy machinery in use. Power factor correction was included as part of the system installation which rectified the power supply near to parity.

 

Being a chicken farm, ProTen have high and low seasonal electricity trends. This is due to cleaning and lulls in usage at parts of the site. Despite how the load fluctuates we were still able to deliver a 33% energy reduction.

 

Daniel Bryant recognises the impact on the business: “We’re up to $6-7 million worth of install now, all with ongoing support. When problems do arrive that there’s no running away from, those problems are solved quickly. It’s quite clear that our relationship with Smart is long term.”