Intech Energy Container Arrives At Port Of Townsville

An Intech Clean Energy containerised hybrid solar + storage solution arrived in Australia yesterday, which will make its way to a property in north-west Queensland’s McKinlay Shire.

Approximately 160 properties in the shire are connected to the mains grid via Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) lines. While SWER may be comparatively cheap to roll out, maintenance costs are high – and poor maintenance represents an increased fire/electrocution risk.

Reliability is also an issue as when there are outages, these can go on for a number of days. Where large loads are in use, a SWER connection may not cope and a generator is required. SWER also only delivers single-phase power, whereas three-phase is commonly used on farms.

Renewables are being examined as a part of the solution to some of the challenges facing SWER connected customers in McKinlay Shire, with this first Intech Energy Container to be used for a trial  involving McKinlay Shire Council, the Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone (MITEZ) and Ergon Energy. MITEZ awarded a $55,000 grant to the $100,000 project from the Queensland Government’s Remote Area Board Funding program.

Intech’s solution is available in capacities from 5kW to 300kW, with the solar panels ground-mounted and/or on the roof of the container.

The unit for the trial features 21 kW of solar panels, a solar inverter, three battery inverters, a 60 kWh battery bank and a 20-kVA backup generator.  The system also incorporates extensive monitoring, with data available via satellite or telephone links. Remote access will enable Intech’s team to troubleshoot and provide advice on system operation.

It’s been a long journey for this Intech Energy Container – it began its travels from Antwerp in Belgium back in September. Port of Townsville CEO Ranee Crosby was impressed with the new arrival and the increase in business for the port resulting from solar power related projects generally.

“Growing container trade has been powered by imports of solar project cargo, and it is wonderful to see new technologies in the renewable sector being shipped through Townsville Port destined for communities in our region,” said Mr. Crosby.

As to who the lucky recipient will be, that will be determined by public ballot at Julia Creek in next month. If the trial is a success a broader rollout to other farms in the area will be considered.

This isn’t the first project of its nature in Australia. Trials of stand-alone hybrid solar power systems for fringe-of-grid electricity customers in Western Australia have already occurred and in March this year, Western Power was given permission to proceed with a demonstration project to install systems at up to 60 sites across the state.