Solar in the North of Victoria is booming, and Hume City Council recognised a winning opportunity to install solar on the Eric Boardman Basketball Stadium. EnviroGroup was selected to install the system at the Sunbury location following a competitive tender process.
Hume City Council Solar
Structural engineering assessment revealed a need to reduce the overall system size due to the risk of wind pick up by a larger rooftop array. Appropriate wind and weight loading engineering is a vital and often forgotten part of a solar installation that can lead to building damage (and roof collapse in some extreme circumstances) if not considered at the design stage.
Planning dynamics
This change affected the planned dynamics of the stringing between the panels and inverter, but our CEC accredited designers were quick to come up with a solution that met the new requirements while still maximising output and cost efficiency for the client.
Safety was a significant feature of this installation. Installation demanded handrails be installed along the array area to protect our on-site staff from the 10m drop over the side of the stadium, and skylight covering to protect both our installers and the delicate laserlight skylights running the length of the stadium.
We also installed permanent roof safety hardware to ensure ongoing access to the roof space could be achieved for maintenance and service without the need for costly temporary safety equipment each time access is required. EnviroGroup is dedicated to high levels of safety for all our installs, and we guide our clients through the best options and legal requirements for their unique property.
The rooftop array layout was designed future expansion of the system in mind. Following consultation with the client and an assessment of their priorities on both the short term – greenhouse gas and bill reduction – and the long term – the goal of carbon neutrality – our designers got to work on a plan that would see their goals become reality. The system design was optimised for expansion.
The solar system features 241 72 cell Trina – a larger commercial model compared to the standard 60 cell panel featured in most installations. The benefit of this choice of panel is not only the massive 400W that can be generated by each panel, but also less balance of system and labour costs, as there are less panels to install without compromising overall system size and power generation.
