If you are a state broadcaster, Fiji is a difficult region.It takes Victron Energy to power Digital TV in Fiji
900,000 Fijians live on 110 of the nation’s 330 islands …which are sprinkled over a huge area of the Pacific Ocean. Staying in touch with island news, or enjoying the region’s entertainment programmes, has always been challenging – often marred by weak signals and power outages. That’s all changed. Fiji now has ultra-modern Digital TV available to 97% of the population. How has this been achieved?
Fiji is well organised and has one of the best-developed economies of the Pacific region, based mainly on tourism and sugar. Yet the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation struggled to provide a reliable service owing to the mountainous topography, and difficulties of getting power to offshore repeater stations using fragile infrastructure, dogged by extreme weather events.
Derek-Gaeth-Hitech-COO-digital solar powered container installation complete.
New Zealand based Hi Tech Solutions were the company chosen to provide the infrastructure for a major installation which would allow for the Digital switch-over. The key to the success of the project, says Hi Tech’s Derek Gaeth, lay in their decision to install all components inside 20 foot shipping containers. This allowed for the system-build to take place in the controlled environment of Hi Tech’s own workshops; and greatly simplified transportation to the often remote sites of the transmission stations. Equipment for the larger sites required 5 containers to house batteries, inverters, generators and fuel tanks; together with all the switching gear required for Digital, FM, and Data Transmission. The ‘container’ solution also allowed for short on-site build times – where arrival at bare site to sign-off could be achieved in less than 7 days.
Grid electricity is unreliable, so provision has been made in all locations to include solar power …virtually guaranteeing 24 hour continuous operation under any circumstances. The power demand at the larger sites is around 12kWh – though this can be reduced in abnormal circumstances and still provide essential services. Apart from reducing the carbon footprint – most power is diesel generated – the solar power provision also reduces cost: The largest site alone is projected to save FJ$1.3 million over three years.Power from the solar panels is stored in Redflow’s Zinc-Bromine flow batteries. These have been chosen for their long life (10 years – guaranteed); their ability to withstand 100% depletion – without damage, and full recovery; and also because they have proven to operate flawlessly in the high tropical temperatures for which the islands are so popular as a tourist destination.
These large-format 10kWh batteries can be paralleled into huge capacity storage – 600kWh in the largest Fiji installation – though even larger banks have been built elsewhere in the world. An added advantage is that their very weight (of 240kg) is a deterrent to theft in remote locations which cannot be ‘policed’.
Victron 10kVA Quattro Inverter Chargers – configured in both single- and three-phase – were chosen to partner this battery storage for several reasons: Victron technology has been built to work seamlessly with many battery technologies – Zinc Bromine being well-proven; also the Quattro is able to work with two power sources – if the weather turns gloomy for an extended spell, batteries can be recharged with power from a diesel Generator – with automatic switching. Peak power demand or unstable grid conditions will cause the Quattro to patch-in with power assistance – with invisible switching times of 20ms …and also Victron equipment can be remotely monitored and controlled using the Victron Remote Management portal. The Venus GX has been chosen for this part of the operation.
The specification for the largest full off-grid site is impressive: Designed to supply 24kW continuously it features a 192kW solar array controlled by 15 MPPT solar chargers (Victron 250/100); 600kWh battery storage; 12 x 10kVA Quattro’s – configured for three-phase operation; and 24 Fronius Primo inverters.
Across the network power provision totalling 1.2 megawatts has been built to withstand winds of 350kph.
Hitech is a New Zealand headquartered company which provides infrastructure for the commercial generation of solar power – creating sustainable micro-grids for telecoms, remote communities, broadcasting and connecting the IoT. It’s a credit to the team that not only were they the only company able to provide the Government of Fiji with a plan and costing for this major national installation – but they were able to deliver it, on time, as promised.
With their state-of-the-art digital TV transmission infrastructure, Fijians can now catch up on the latest news from almost anywhere.
Many African Nations like Ghana are challenged with electricity and could expand their grid with such innovative solutions from Nocheski Solar
Credit: this story was culled from the victron energy website The image used at the head of this article is by Nick Hobgood.
Education and Grid electricity can’t be taken for granted when you happen to live in one of the most sparsely populated countries on the planet. If you live in the rural part of any country ‘public services’ like education has a habit of passing you by; but in Botswana – with its half-a-million square kilometers of rural land – most of the country is ‘off grid’. The Government is making one of its biggest investments to make sure children don’t miss out on a modern education…The Ministry of Education and Skills has embarked on an ambitious project to provide 20 rural schools with state of the art off-grid Solar Power plants – each providing an impressive 90 to 150kVA. That’s enough for the School’s pupils, office block, kitchen and up to 10 associated ‘staff houses’. A micro-grid.
The government recognizes the importance of education and seeks to offer an equal opportunity to all Botswanan children -regardless of whether they grow up in the city – or remotely. No electricity means no computers – and without learning computer skills a child becomes part of a lost generation …unable to reach his/her full potential. For that reason the Government have signed off this initiative which represents one of their biggest, newest investments.
A long way from the cities, sophistication of these electronic installations is an unfamiliar sight – but no short-cuts have been made in guaranteeing the future of electricity provision, with state of the art power plants which may comprise of up to 12 Inverters 48V 
Now the very latest technology is available to these children as an educational tool. No matter that their school is far out of town, increasingly rural children can enjoy the same advantages as children in the cities.By taking a long-term view the power needs of remote schools, villages – even towns – can be met through installing Solar Powered Micro-Grids. The power used by these far-sighted schemes is cleaner; uses less infrastructure; is more easily maintained; and is more secure from acts of god …or civil unrest. Not only that, they have their costs under control …and the price they pay for their power, over the lifetime of the installation is a fraction of the price paid by those of us who are grid-connected.
Think about this: In the UK the average annual bill for electricity today is £600. The average annual electricity price-rise is 8%. In 25 years time (the lifetime of a solar panel) the average annual bill for electricity will be £4,100. The economic argument for generating your own electricity from Solar Power has been won – it’s cheaper.In many ways – the Botswanan Government, and Botswanan schoolchildren are showing us the way ahead.
Financed mainly by charitable donations the surveillance installations are highly mobile, frequently moved, and can be packed for deployment by truck – or even slung under a helicopter and flown-in to new surveillance sites.
As the solar inverter industry is becoming more commodified every year, inverter spec sheets are starting to look a lot more similar. Many inverter capabilities are driven by the same market requests and NEC code regulations, making features and pricing very similar across all inverter brands in the market. Therefore, a buyer could think that the only thing to look at is the price tag. However, it’s crucial to actually look past the spec sheet and the initial purchase price. When picking an inverter, you not only chose a piece of equipment, you are choosing a partner to work with for the next 20+ years. Thus, you might want to look into more than just “the box” and its price.
GRADE refers to the quality of solar cell used in the solar panel, and are categorized as A, B, C, or D. “Grade A” cells are the highest quality, in that they are tested to ensure there are no micro-cracks in the solar cell, and all the cells are of the same type. The quality diminishes for grade B, which may have micro cracks and not all cells are of the same type (they sometimes mix and match). Grades C and D are much worse quality with larger cracks and chips, and the cell mismatch is even worse since typical solar cell will be exposed to sunlight throughout its lifetime. Sunlight contains harmful ultraviolet (UV) light that deteriorates all materials, including solar cells. The tiny flaws in the material become worse after prolonged exposure to sunlight, and its power output reduces over time.As a grade A cell has the least flaws to start with, its deterioration will be the slowest.
