The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has awarded financing backing to a Canberra-based engineering company to test pop-up mobile solar solution. The project is aimed at helping eliminate diesel generators as the main source of temporary power supply.
ARENA revealed that it had awarded grant funding amounting to $289,725 for ECLIPS Engineering to design, manufacture, and trial its rapidly re-deployable Container Roll Out Solar System or CROSS.
In an article published on its website, RenewEconomy reported that CROSS are factory-assembled 20ft and 40ft relocatable ground mount solar panel arrays which can be stacked and transported in shipping containers. It can also be unloaded and set up in a few minutes at a project venue.
“Each 20ft CROSS unit can provide up to 2.1kW of power, and can be stacked up to seven high in a single shipping container. The 40 ft units can supply up to 4.3kW each and can also be stacked up to seven high,” the report stated.
The report also mentioned that the demonstration project is focused to capture the attention of market sectors which includes defence, humanitarian, construction, disaster recovery, and temporary network augmentation.
Ivor Frischknecht, the CEO at ARENA, commented that the CROSS units could help drive solar energy in providing temporary power when there is a need in a remote location or during an emergency situation.
He explained, “CROSS units can be deployed in off-grid and fringe-of-grid areas, displace or offset diesel consumption, and improve the security of existing networks.”
“These renewable options can reduce some of the barriers to entry for potential renewable power users in remote locations, including short project durations and where power systems need to be periodically relocated. Renewable energy can provide an emissions-free, silent energy system that could replace diesel generators in the long run,” he added.
The original article can be read here.
