—Sean LePoidevin, Project Manager, APEX Energy
Flinders Ranges is a remote area located 600km north of Adelaide, offering spectacular outback scenery with precipitous peaks and valleys, extreme topographic diversity, gorges and creeks.
It is also home to the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, which showcases almost 2 billion years of geological history, excellent dark skies for astronomical observations and unique wilderness—and is under consideration for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage listing. This remote property in Australia must generate its own electricity and wished to transition from a reliance on diesel fuel to solar power energy.
They chose the S-5! PVKIT direct-attach, rail-less solar mounting solution for its lower freight costs, ability to maximise rooftop space for solar, ease of installation and its low-profile aesthetic appeal, given the surrounding natural landscape. The microgrid will reduce Arkaroola’s use of diesel by approximately 15,000L per year, a savings of 126,000kg of CO2 annually. At times, the village will operate on 100% renewable energy.
Installer APEX Energy utilized the S-5! PVKIT® – a rail-less solar mounting solution – along with the RibBracket™ attachment, providing a simple, secure method to “lay & play” PV modules with tested, engineered, cost-saving, direct attachment onto the ribs of the metal roof. Providing a faster and easier installation than a traditional rail system, S-5! turns the roof into a canvas, allowing panels to be installed anywhere on the roof, not just on roof purlins. The ability to design a landscape-oriented system enabled Apex Energy to maximize roof space and meant the arrays could be expanded by 7.3% to an impressive 61.6kWp of generation capacity.
The microgrid will reduce Arkaroola’s use of diesel by approximately 15,000L per year, a savings of 126,000kg of CO2 annually. At times, the village will operate on 100% renewable energy. In addition, the sanctuary owners can rest assured knowing the quality and reliability of the S-5! solution is engineered to outlast the life of the roof and carries a market-leading lifetime warranty.
Using the PVKIT can save you up to 50% in:
The RibBracket is the perfect attachment solution for specific North American trapezoidal, exposed-fastened metal roofs.These profiles are commonly referred to as R-Panel or PBR-Panel.
Learn more about the product featured in this case study.
