Since its delayed proposal in 2013, Mount Majura solar farm located in Canberra ACT, will soon be commencing work as Solar Choice is in the process of signing off on the first 2MW stage of the project. Work on the farm will begin in 2015 and is expected to take about 5-6 months between the beginning of construction and the commissioning process.
Once completion takes place (which is expected to be in 2016) the Mount Majura solar farm will be able to be viewed from the Majura Parkway until newly planted trees grow tall enough to prevent the view.
Mount Majura solar farm has faced many challenges
However, the Solar Choice project has faced many challenges since its proposal, such as concerns from the Canberra Airport located close to the farms vicinity, with regard to the panels reflecting sunlight and producing a glare which could blind pilots during landing and taking off.
Though the Civil Aviation Authority has determined that such concerns are baseless and that is why the project was given the green-light to begin work according to Solar Choice.
First project in Australia to utilize cutting-edge technology called “SolBot”
The Mount Majura solar farm project will make use of unique and cutting-edge technology used for tracking on the solar farm. The California-based QBotix’s “SolBot” are the first of their kind to be deployed in Australia. SolBots have been worked with in other parts of the world such as Japan and Europe, but it’s exciting to actually witness this type of technology on home grounds.
The difference between the SolBots being used at Mount Majura solar farm and conventional tracking solar technologies is the fact that the QBotix system makes use of intelligent track-mounted robots which adjust the tilt and orientation of the solar arrays throughout the day.
Such a system does not need multiple motors to do the same; these Solbots are also self-charging by utilising the power produced by the solar molecules themselves.
Photo by: Brookhaven National Laboratory on Flickr
