UoS Abercrombie Campus

In addition to providing quality general electrical design services, Webb provided specialised solar Photovoltaic (PV) design services and managed the construction supervision of two separate grid connect solar PV systems for both the new Abercrombie Accommodation and new Business School Buildings. The Abercrombie Building has a 29 kWp solar PV system which includes 110 solar panels and two 3 phase inverters while the Business School Building has a 79 kWp solar PV system which includes 303 solar panels and six 3 phase inverters. Webb Australia used 3D shading analysis to determine the optimal placing and spacing of solar panels given the building roof and plant layouts while considering maintenance access. Industry Best Practice and Clean Energy Council (CEC) design guidelines were used to select quality solar systems components which were essential for a robust design. Mounting of the solar arrays to the building involved a roof array ballast system which did not require any penetration into the new roof and therefore reducing the risk and cost of any future roof waterproofing issues. The design incorporated anti-islanding protection relays with additional design safety features used when standby generators were required. While the two PV systems were physically and electrically separated on two buildings, they both featured real time online system monitoring and reporting through the building management system and internet. Each PV system has dedicated weather sensors which continually monitors and compares targeted energy generation capacity versus actual plant performance to maximise energy yield production. This feature further allows the PV system operators to access key data for analysis, diagnosis and detailed performance of energy yields.