The Tigers Richmond Football Club announces the installation of a 99.7 kW solar system in its home base at Punt Road Oval. Enphase Energy together with Yingli Green Energy Australia has installed the solar photovoltaic system. The solar solution was provided by Metro Solar, a family-owned, national solar installer and the football club’s official sustainability partner. This solar system is designed to meet the high energy consumption of the Punt Road Oval.
The club’s headquarters with its famous black-and-yellow ME Bank Center is now powered by Yingli Green Energy solar PV panels along with the Enphase Energy micro inverters. As one of the first AFL clubs to use solar power, the Tigers are proud of the example they are setting for the rest of the community.
“Metro Solar was able to deliver a solar solution to meet the club’s power consumption and exploit the roof’s energy potential, using a top-quality solar system that can generate more energy than other system,” says Brendon Gale, CEO of the club.
“The sports facility, housing a high-performance training gym, treatment and recovery clinic, education, workplace and retail spaces, has an extremely large base load, most of which is consumed during the day,” he adds.
Tigers Club Eco-Friendly Plans
The solar photovoltaic system is just a part of a broader plan of the Tigers to make their 170-year old training facilities eco-friendly. They are now thinking of strategies on how they can encourage the broader community to follow the example they have set.
According to Enphase, its patented “Burst Mode” technology, allows the solar system to produce additional generation in the morning as well as at dusk. This allows the Tigers to increase their energy savings.
What happens is that when the “Burst Mode” is activated, the micro inverters store a small trickle of power produced by the solar panel. This small power trickles accumulate until there is enough amount to send a burst of energy.
Additionally, as the micro inverters perform this task, they are able to maintain highly efficient operation during low-light conditions, thus extending the solar system’s daily production hours.
“On such a high-profile site, quality and reliability are paramount. Both Yingli and Enphase are world leaders, and their proven reliability is something we proudly stand behind as a solar installer,” says Anthony O’Connell, Metro Solar CEO.
Enphase Energy cloud-based software platform
An integral part of the solar system is the Enphase Energy cloud-based Enlighten software platform. In real-time, this software reports on the health and performance of the solar system installed at Punt Road Oval. They have this real-time monitoring on display at the clubhouse.
Yingli Green Energy is not new to this kind of large scale solar installations. It has a long history of involvement with sporting organizations all over the world. This company has been very active in the development and implementation of sustainable energy solutions to sports stadiums and similar sports facilities.
In fact, this company is a sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil where it equipped the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, and Arena Pernambuco with more than 5,100 solar panels.
