Page 188 - Applied Photovoltaics

water- and vermin-proof enclosures. Diesel enclosures provide sound attenuation and
battery enclosures are thermally insulated. Installations undertaken to date include a
®
four-bay Stationpower system with a wind turbine and 25 kW inverter capacity at
Inkerman Station, Cape York, a 267,000 ha cattle station with eight full-time staff.
Annual diesel fuel and generator cost savings are estimated to have been $25,000
®
since the system was installed. Stationpower is used by the Queensland Parks &
Wildlife Service to provide reliable, minimum maintenance power for remote and
inhospitable areas. Typical systems use three bays with 15 kW inverter capacity and
an acoustic canopy for the generator.

9.4 RELIABILITY AND MAINTENANCE
Reliability and maintenance are crucial issues in remote areas owing to the difficulty,
delay and expense of technical support. Some of the issues were highlighted in a
report on a survey of installed renewable energy RAPS systems in Australia (Lloyd et
al., 2000). Concerns expressed by customers included poor reliability, lack of
maintenance support and insufficient education and training of users. Approximately
one third of the renewable energy systems visited in remote indigenous communities
were not operational at the time of the visit. System faults were attributed to batteries
(28%), inverters (16%), control systems (15%) and other reasons (22%). Even more
serious failure rates have been reported from Brazil (Krauter, 2004).
This highlights the need for development of local training and infrastructure and
ongoing information dissemination (Gregory & McNelis, 1994). Excellent guidelines
for good maintenance practices are available (Architectural Energy Corporation,
1991; Roberts, 1991).

9.5 GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE SCHEMES
There are growing commitments by many governments around the world to assist
people with the acquisition of RAPS systems.

In Australia, the NSW Government established a Remote Area Power Assistance
Scheme in 1988 to help permanent residents of remote areas gain an adequate
domestic power supply. By 2004, Federal government schemes available were the
Photovoltaic Rebate Program (PVRP) and the Remote Renewable Power Generation
Program (RRPGP) (Watt, 2004b; Australian Greenhouse Office, 2004c). The PVRP
is to encourage photovoltaics on buildings and has applied to both grid-connected and
stand-alone systems. Approvals for grid systems overtook stand-alone systems in
2002. The RRPGP encourages the displacement of diesel by renewable energy for
power generation in off-grid areas. Almost all small systems installed include
photovoltaics. RRPGP includes a four-year ‘Bushlight’ sub-program that aims to
provide affordable, consistent and reliable renewable energy services for up to 10,000
people in 200 remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, Northern
Territory, Queensland and South Australia. There are around 1217 remote indigenous
communities in Australia, many not connected to electricity grids and relying on
diesel or petrol engines for electricity.
The various State government schemes may also be accessed through the Australian
Greenhouse Office (2004c) web site and were reviewed in 2003 (Grenfell, 2003). The
Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation Diesel Grid PV Program is jointly

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