Australia’s largest
solar project is complete

The Bulman Solar Power Station is the first of two such facilities to installed as part of the Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation’s NT Solar PV Commercialisation Pilot Project. Bulman has an installed solar capacity of 56kWp. A further 225kWp is to be installed at Kings Canyon, making this Australia’s biggest flat plate solar photovoltaic (PV) project.

The aims of the project are to reduce diesel fuel consumption, lower greenhouse gas emission levels and reduce the cost of power generation. The diesel-fuelled power stations in remote communities of the Northern Territory are among the most favourable locations for the introduction of renewable energy systems. Bulman is a remote Aboriginal community in the tropical zone, whereas Kings Canyon is a large resort in a national park in the arid zone. These differences will help demonstrate the prospects for future solar systems under different climatic and load profile conditions across the Territory. Both sites will expose this innovative technology to locals and visitors alike, thereby helping to promote sustainable energy principles in the wider community.

The project is jointly funded by Power and Water, the Northern Territory Government and the Australian Greenhouse office. The project's information package (dated Jan 2002) is available here for downloading as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file (910kb).

Background

The reasons for this project and the basics of the 1/3rd Peak Lopping Principle are explained on the background page, whereas a list of the parties involved can be found on the participants page.

Locations

The most favourable locations for renewable energy are the diesel-fuelled power stations in remote communities of the Northern Territory. Accordingly, the Power And Water Corporation has made a commitment to install PV systems at Bulman and Kings Canyon (click on the names for detailed site information). These locations were selected because of their differences and also their similarities.

Bulman is a remote Aboriginal community (160 kW maximum demand) in the tropical zone, whereas Kings Canyon is a large resort in a national park (650 kW maximum demand) in the arid zone. These differences will demonstrate for future commercial projects the prospects for hybrid solar/diesel systems under different climatic and load profile conditions across the Territory. The Kings Canyon site will expose this innovative arid-zone technology to thousands of visitors to the national park every year, thereby helping promote sustainable energy principles to the wider community.

Want more information?

See the contacts page if you would like to get more information about this project.