On the road to net zero

La Trobe University selected FIMER’s PVS-100 inverter technology to power a 519 kW solar system on a brand-new sports facility located at the Bundoora Campus in Melbourne, Australia.

In 2019, the university committed itself to reach ‘net zero’ emissions at its seven campuses across Victoria and New South Wales by 2029 through a long-term initiative. As part of this initiative, the university built its world-class sporting complex for teaching, research, community participation and elite sport, and wanted the complex to be powered by solar power.

The new facility was completed in January 2020 as part of the staged development of the park and includes an indoor stadium with six multi-purpose highball courts, a teaching and research building with world-class sport science and analytics research laboratories, and office space for commercial tenants. Elite Solar Pro, an industry-leading solar and energy EPC based in Victoria, completed the 519 kW system, which has over 1100 x 470 W panels installed on the stadium roof and five FIMER PVS-100 three-phase string inverters.

FIMER’s five PVS-100-TL string inverters are located on the roof and built into a custom-made enclosure. The PVS-100 inverter is ideal for this type of application where energy demand fluctuates, and the high power rating of each inverter means that fewer units are required, reducing CAPEX, due to its high-power density and cuts OPEX as it is quick to install, and easy to configure and maintain.

The 519 kW system is connected to FIMER’s Aurora Vision Plant Management platform, enabling the system to be monitored and managed remotely. The stadium was awarded Australia’s first ‘6 Star Green Star Design and As Built v1.2 certified’ rating for a sports building by the Green Building Council Australia. The 519 kW system is capable of generating approximately 724 MW of solar energy annually, more than enough to meet the entire stadium’s electrical demands, with the surplus going to supplement the main campus.

La Trobe Dean School of Allied Health Human Services and Sport Professor Russell Hoye said the state-of-the-art sports stadium had transformed students’ experiences and was a valuable community asset predicted to have more than 10,000 visitors a week.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve been able to create this incredible facility while remaining true to La Trobe’s values of being sustainable, protecting our environment and aiming to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2029,” Hoye said.