NSW club expects three-year payback with 215 kWp solar system

The Milton Ulladulla ExServos Club is hoping to reduce power consumption by half and save $70K a year in energy costs with the installation of a 215 kilowatt/peak (kWp) Enphase-equipped solar system.

The system was installed by Bawley Point NSW-based Enphase partner SunnyAfternoons, an Enphase Platinum Partner which supports customers from the NSW South Coast to Gippsland in northeast Victoria.

SunnyAfternoons installed the 100 kWp first stage of the system in December 2020 and the remaining 115 kWp in the middle of this year. The complete system contains 581 370-watt mono perc solar panels, each equipped with Enphase IQ7+ microinverters.

Milton Ulladulla ExServos Club CEO Darryl Bozicevic said the club invested in the solar PV system to reduce energy consumption and to demonstrate corporate social responsibility. “We’d looked at it for a number of years and, from a pricing point of view, decided it was time to move,” he said.

“We’ve budgeted on a three-year payback for the cost of the system. In November alone, our power bill was reduced by $10,000 — down 58% from November 2020. We were involved in the decision to use Enphase, assisted by an external consultant. Although microinverters are more expensive, I think we were more comfortable with them as part of the SunnyAfternoons proposal.

“Microinverters provide us with monitoring of each solar panel, so we can see how well it is working and easily identify a problem with a panel. With 1000–2000 people visiting the club on many days, safety was an important part of our decision, which also encouraged us to choose Enphase.”

SunnyAfternoons Managing Director Glenn Cooper said he had recommended Enphase microinverters because of their superior performance, accessibility and safety. “The club is a large operation that uses a fair bit of power during the daytime, so this solar system will deliver them huge savings on a sunny day,” he said.

Enphase offers the advantages of module-level reporting that provides remote monitoring of what is going on for each panel, so there is more uptime even when there are minor failures, which means lower maintenance costs for the whole system, Cooper said.

Enphase microinverters convert DC energy produced by the panels to AC energy right on the panel, so there are no high-voltage DC cables running through the roof, which reduces the risk of fire, he said.

Image caption: Enphase-equipped solar panels on the Milton Ulladulla ExServos Club.