Australian Powerhouse has installed a 60kVA off-grid solar panel in Northern Australia to power an external EV charger. The project is part of the 7,000 km WAEV network.
Powerhouse has installed a remote, off-grid 60kVA solar array at the Whim Creek Hotel in Australia’s Pilbara region, 1,639km northeast of Perth.
The Whim Creek Hotel’s solar panel features two JinkoSolar panels SMA string inverters of the panels to charge the battery, and four Victron Quattro inverters to discharge the batteries and power a 50 kW electric vehicle (EV) charger, which can also be upgraded to a 75 kW fast charger.
The EV charging station is one of 110 EV fast chargers being rolled out across 49 locations for gentailer Horizon Power’s 7,000km Western Australia (WA) EV Network project, on behalf of the Government of Western Australia.
Power plant crews installed the 106-module, 475W system in December 2024, working at night to avoid daytime temperatures approaching 50C.
Powerhouse founder and co-owner Brigette McDowell shared pv magazine that remote installations require multi-skilled teams as the cost of using contractors is prohibitive due to location.
“Our team does all the crane lifts, fencing and foundations,” McDowell said. “The Whim Creek location is also located in wind region D and therefore additional engineering and reinforcement is required. One of the challenges of this installation is the 48°C temperature in December in the area. Often these projects require our teams to camp, but fortunately we were able to stay at a nearby mining facility.”
McDowell added that the key is to be safe and successful remote installations is organization, planning and efficiency on location.
“If you forget one clamp, you’re wasting your budget and your time frame,” she said.
Since the completion of the Whim Creek Hotel project, Powerhouse has also commissioned a new charger for the WAEV network at the Mundrabilla Roadhouse on the Nullarbor Plain, 1,361km east of Perth, bringing the total to 12 EV chargers for the network brings.
The WAEV network is a collaboration between the state energy company Horizon Power and gentailer Synergywith the Western Australian Government, which will be the longest EV charging network in Australia, connecting more than 7,000km of roads in Western Australia.
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