The University of Queensland St Lucia campus 1.22 MW photovoltaic array

At the time of its official opening on 15 July 2011, The University of Queensland 1.22 MW array was the largest flat-panel PhotoVoltaic (PV) array in Australia. This PV array consists of over 5000 Trina Solar 240 Wp polycrystalline silicon PV modules installed across four rooftops at the St Lucia campus. Grid connection was achieved with 85 12.5 kW three phase and four 5 kW single phase grid connect inverters manufactured by Power-One. The site also includes one 8.4 kWp SolFocus concentrating solar 2 axis tracking PV array. Site wide monitoring and data logging of all DC, AC and environmental quantities will allow this array to be a rich source of research data. The site will also include a 200 kW 400 kWh zinc bromine energy storage system by Redflow, and associated power quality metering and monitoring. This paper presents highlights of the project feasibility study which included a site survey, shading analysis, and technology and triple bottom line assessment. A detailed description of the final technical implementation including discussion of alterative options considered is given. Finally, example initial data showing yield, trends and early example experimental results are presented.