Sydney Theatre Company

385kW Solar System

Charter Hall

2 * 200kW Solar Systems

Christian Community Ministry

850kW+

The college is part of the Christian Community Ministries, comprising of 12 schools and 6000+ students! These schools include: 

Endeavour Christian College

Blakes Christian College

Seaview Christian College 

Livingstone Christian College 

Cornerstone Christian College – Busselton

As part of this partnership, we worked closely with each client and designed each system  to meet specific performance ratios and maintain high utilisation of the solar energy produced. 

The systems were purposefully designed to be up to but not over 99kW as this is the maximum system size clients are able to claim the upfront STC rebate. The schools will benefit from significant energy cost savings and significant reductions in carbon emissions.

Watch this space! More projects in the works!

Stanbroke Beef

364.8kW

Gem Energy has installed numerous single axis trackers with bifacial panels. Our experience with this technology has now enabled us to perfect the installation of this combined technology. Tracker selection and bifacial compatibility is critically important with many suppliers making design errors in this area as bifacial technology is still not widely understood. Globally the utility solar farm market is all going tracker bifacial and so it is with confidence that we say its is the best option for your project.

After working closely with Energysales and Stanbroke, a 364.8kW system was designed to meet specific performance ratios and maintain high utilisation of the solar energy produced. The site will produce 799,509kW produced per year with one month exceeding predicted panel generation forecasts by 37%. The ground mount system also includes 12 single axis tracker tilt frames across 2 rows of 40 panels, rotating as the sun moves during the day. The client will benefit from energy cost savings of over $145,917K in the first year.

Bifacial Panels: The next generation of panels specifically designed to improve yields on ground mounted arrays. Having a glass back sheet as opposed to polycarbonate and coating the solar cells with anti-reflective coating enables ambient and reflected light to be absorbed on the rear of the array. This technology requires a unique installation methodology to be effective but if done correctly yields can be improved by 30% or more.

Single Axis Tracking: Ground mount solar arrays are traditionally fixed and face north. Tracking systems instead follow the sun from morning until evening greatly improving yields, especially in the morning and afternoon. 25% additional yield, flat peak production line and shoulder generation combine to make this technology the only option provided the array is in a suitable wind region.

Spicers Retreat Eco Cabins

100kW Off Grid

CEC Design and Installation Award Finalist 2020

Set in the midst of the Main Range National Park in Queensland, the off-grid system for Spicers Retreats Amphitheatre Eco Cabins has been designed to meet the highest environmental standards as well as showcase a prestigious level of luxury. The Amphitheatre side is spread out over 9 buildings, including 6 cabins, 2 washrooms and the main pavilion. Solar panels are installed on all buildings and the energy is fed back through DC cables to the main pavilion where the solar inverters are located. The equipment used includes Australian-made Selectronic Battery Inverters, Austrian Fronius Solar Inverters, BYD Lithium batteries, SunPower Solar panels and Tigo Module Optimizers. Furthermore, all of these components can be easily, quickly and safely dismantled.

Challenges

The project presented multiple challenges. Access to the site was only possible via 4X4 trucks, shading from trees affecting power generation had to be worked around rather than removed, the 2019-2020 bushfires barred access to the area and was followed a few weeks later by heavy rain. As the site was located amongst protected national parkland, no trees on the site could be cut down to reduce shading over the solar system. Instead, the GEM Energy Team created a detailed map of the shaded areas and simulated how our system would work around them. Overall, the designing, building and installation of this two-of-a-kind system has only been achieved through the determination of the GEM Energy Team to deliver on our commitments to our highly valued client.

Solution

The Amphitheatre side is spread out over 9 buildings, including 6 cabins, 2 washrooms and the main pavilion. Solar panels are installed on all buildings and the energy is fed back through DC cables to the main pavilion where the solar inverters are located. All of the components used can be easily, quickly and safely dismantled. To match the brief of our client, the solar array and all other hardware associated with this had to be aesthetically pleasing and had to fall in line with the excellent workmanship of all other contractors on site.