WA business park powered by renewable microgrid

Peel Business Park in Nambeelup will draw the majority of its power from a renewable energy microgrid.

The industrial estate worked with FIMER to develop the customised solar, battery and microgrid solution.

Fully integrated and commissioned in March 2021, it will deliver safe, reliable and green energy to the tenants of the estate, with expected energy cost savings of around 30% compared to published tariffs in Western Australia.

The Peel Business Park is a multistage, 1000-hectare greenfield industrial estate being developed in Nambeelup (approximately 70 km south of Perth) in Western Australia. DevelopmentWA has activated the first phase of the Peel Business Park, with Stage 1 lots released in 2020.

Due to the remoteness of this new industrial development area, an existing power connection to the traditional grid did not exist, and it was not economically feasible to construct and extend a new full-supply grid connection to the site. An onsite, behind-the-meter solar and battery solution was highlighted as the most cost-effective, reliable and green alternative to a traditional servicing approach.

By utilising a smart renewables microgrid solution, the business park will instead use locally generated renewable energy directly from an onsite solar farm, along with a battery energy storage system, to power over 50% of the site.

Avora Energy was engaged by Peel Renewable Energy to design, procure, construct and commission the solar and battery solution. Sunrise Energy Group was a technical and project management partner to the project. Jarrah Solutions provided protection, SCADA and comms schemes for the project, including the microgrid control system.

The renewable energy solution includes a 1.2 MW solar farm, incorporating over 2772 bifacial 440 W panels with a NEXTracker single-axis tracking system; a FIMER skid-mounted solar and battery inverter system with medium-voltage power distribution system; and a 2.5 MWh Saft battery energy storage system.

“During the product component selection process, we were looking for a combined inverter and battery solution that would elegantly meet all the technical and project requirements. FIMER’s PV and battery solution was a fully integrated solution that could be delivered on a single skid that ensured easy installation, commissioning and servicing,” said Jeff Brill, Avora Energy’s Managing Director.

The FIMER solution was designed specifically for this project. With over 12 months of planning across multiple teams in Australia and Europe, the customised 40″ skid incorporates:

• a FIMER PVS980-58 central inverter
• a FIMER bidirectional inverter, the PVS980-58BC, including grid-forming-ready technology
• a hybrid medium voltage transformer
• associated switchgear.

Utilising the hybrid station with both FIMER inverters enables the technology to share a portion of hardware that brings significant synergies over the system’s life, including fast installation, high reliability and a rapid return on investment as well as long-term support and maintenance benefits.

The 1.2 MW solar farm is serviced by the FIMER PVS-980-58 solar PV inverter, which provides high-efficiency, low-auxiliary power consumption with innovative air cooling and is designed for outdoor applications.

The FIMER PVS-980-58BC, a bidirectional inverter, will service the 2.5 MWh energy storage solution and will convert, store and discharge excess power from the battery solution in periods of high demand.

The battery system installed and commissioned on the site is a 2.5 MWh Saft solution with a 1.2 MW power rating. Saft’s containerised lithium-ion batteries are equipped with sophisticated temperature management, safety equipment and cloud-enabled controls.

As the estate grows and more tenants move in, the flexibility of the FIMER solution will enable Peel Renewable Energy to expand its renewable energy offering, using either ground or rooftop-mounted solar arrays.

The solar generation and battery energy storage solution has an expected annual output of over 3 GWh and will reduce CO₂ emissions by approximately 2100 tonnes per annum.