LOCATION

Racecourse is an Aboriginal homestead housing two families in the Pitjantjatjara Lands in Central Australia. The system is designed to supply power for basic lighting, refrigeration and secondary power needs.

THE SYSTEM

The Racecourse power supply uses solar panels (4 x 65 watt) plus a Appropriate Energy S3000 wind turbine for all its power needs. The power is stored at 24V DC in Suncycle wet cell lead acid batteries, which have four-day usage storage capacity. The DC power is transformed to conventional 240V AC, using a Siemens 2.0kVA sine wave inverter. This supplies pure sine wave power, with no noise or distortion, to the household loads.

The switchgear in the system monitors battery voltage and, in the instance of sustained low voltage, will progressively cut out (in order of cutout) the power circuit, lighting circuit, then refrigerator circuit. As voltage rises through generation by the wind or sun, the circuits progressively cut back in.

This allows for the batteries to be protected from excess discharge by cutting out non-essential circuits gradually, during times of low recharge or excessive demand. Consumers learn to work with the system, saving heavy use activities, such as clothes washing, to periods of good wind/sun input.

The system has been funded as a pilot project by the Pitjantjatjara Council, with a grant from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Commission (ATSIC).

Logging of wind/sun inputs and power use will allow the system to be assessed as a cost effective alternative to diesel generation in remote areas.

MAINTENANCE

The Appropriate Energy wind turbine requires an annual inspection and service by a certified and trained dealer or installer. The process should normally take approximately one hour to complete. Bearings need to be changed once every five years and would take less than one day to carry out. Battery electrolyte levels need to be maintained by the user within the specified range.

EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS

• 1 x Appropriate Energy S3000 wind turbine and 19.5m tilt up tower
• 2 x 65Watt(p) solar panels
• 12 x 580Ah wet cell lead acid batteries
• 1 x 2.0kVA sine wave inverter
• 1 x Appropriate Energy control panel
• 1 x Stand alone system housing
• 1 x 5A 12V timed battery charger for vehicles
• 1 x datalogger for monitoring of the system