Solar Choice brokers winning bid for 150kW solar system at Mater Dei College in Camden, NSW

The Solar Choice Commercial team has brokered the winning bid on a 150kW solar energy system for Mater Dei College in Camden, NSW – one of the largest systems installed on a school in Australia to date. Mater Dei College provides early intervention therapy services, education and residential programs for babies, children and young people with intellectual disabilities.

As part of its curriculum and to accommodate its students, the school has a pool which is heated year-round. Although a defining feature of the Mater Dei campus, this pool has resulted in extremely high energy bills. Previous attempts to reduce its costs having proved unfruitful, the school decided to invest in a solar energy system.

Mater Dei approached Solar Choice in October of 2014 seeking two more formalised bids from reputable installers who had a large portfolio of commercial projects. These installers were included as part of an internal tender that the school was undertaking for the project.

Mater Dei was extremely selective in its process, and required solution that would be both cost-effective and bankable. Furthermore, because the federal government had pledged $335,000 to help the school achieve its goal, it was paramount to the client that they chose right solar company and package.

The winning design was installed in mid-January of this year. The solar arrays consisted of 395x Trina Smart 250W modules and 204x Trina Poly 260W modules. The inverters used were 5x SMA Sunny Tripower 25000TL, 1x SMA Sunny Tripower 15000TL and  1x SMA Sunny Tripower 12000TL.

Also, because the school had only limited useable roof space (as result of one of the buildings having heritage restrictions), it was possible to make the most of what roof space was available. To this end, the winning design incorporated Trina Smart solar panels, which come with built-in Tigo Energy power optimizers. Tigo’s technology maximises the output of the panels while also protecting the array from problems associated with partial shading.

© 2015 Solar Choice Pty Ltd