Solar installer helicopters in 3,700 panels for massive NSW rooftop installation

A 1.5MW solar system installed on the roof of a commercial property in New South Wales has enlisted the help of a helicopter to air-lift more than 3,700 405W Trina solar panels into position.

The huge PV system, a joint effort of Smart Commercial Solar and inverter maker Fimer and commissioned by Singapore-based Frasers Property Industrial, was installed over the course of 12 weeks at Frasers newly built commercial properties in Horsley Park, Sydney.

According to Frasers, the rooftop array had to be split into three 500kW subsystems to meet the sites metering and electrical infrastructure – and also to allow the site to be split into three different tenancies in the future, if needed, with a solar system for each.

The solar system uses 12 Fimer PVS-100 three-phase string inverters which were installed and commissioned on a custom-built inverter station.

“The Fimer PVS-100 fits perfectly for the medium voltage system size of this project,” said Smart Commercial Solar managing director, Huon Hoogesteger.

“It is easy to install and fits within the inverter station that was specially designed and engineered by our team.”

Fimer Australia’s country manager Jason Venning said Smart Commercial Solar was dedicated to delivering quality solar installations for their customers, like the Frasers Property project.

“We are proud to have a long history in supporting them by providing FIMER’s leading inverter technology and expertise,” Venning said.

For Frasers Property, the 1.5 MW system has helped to notch up a 5-star Green Star rating for the new industrial property, and will produce more than 2 gigawatts of energy a year.

Frasers, which is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, is a certified carbon neutral organisation under the Australian government’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard and aims to have its whole business achieve net-zero carbon by 2028.

The real estate developer has also take an innovative approach to delivering energy to its customers, with the launch of its own 100% carbon neutral embedded network energy retailer – Real Utilities.

“We have long term goals, plus short term targets that we refresh every two years,” the company has said. “For Energy and Carbon, our long term goal is: By 2030, we aim to create customer value through our energy and carbon strategy.”

As for the carbon impact of the helicopter, Smart Commercial Solar’s Hoogesteger told One Step that the project would have been “virtually impossible” without it and noted that its use had been offset, somewhat, by a net saving of 40 tonnes of C02 made through a decision to reduce the solar rail by 30%.