Customer

The Mater Private Hospital is the largest private hospital in Townsville, located in the central inner suburb of Pimlico in North Queensland, Australia. The Mater is a not-for-profit entity whose current operations contribute over $190m per annum in economic activity to the North Queensland region. With 24/7 operations, the Mater is a large energy user requiring high reliability of supply.

Objective

Yurika was engaged to design, construct and transition the hospital to using rooftop solar power to help reduce their energy costs, increase their self-sufficiency, and improve their sustainability through the adoption of the latest technology. This important partnership required trust, expertise and a detailed understanding of the Mater’s business operations. Working in a hospital environment presented several unique challenges. As an essential service dealing with sick patients, limits on noise, the frequency of power interruptions, and specific working hours were required. A diverse building landscape, that compromised various roof pitches and roof materials, of varying age and condition, added complexity to the design and installation.

Solution

Yurika designed, constructed and integrated a 452kW Smart Connected Solar Solution, which included installation of 1,222 solar panels and 14 inverters, spread across five building rooftops. The system included innovative panel-level optimisation technology that can maximise energy production, enable panel level monitoring and improve safety.

Clear and regular communication between the hospital and local contractors was critical to minimise power interruptions. A collaborative team made up of key people from Yurika and Mater management, specialist electricians, hospital nurses and ward staff came together to deliver a plan to mitigate potential service impacts. The different roof styles, materials and age across buildings also demanded clever design, layout and remediation works to optimise the value of the project. The system included an online information portal, a key feature of our Smart Connected Solar system, enabling remote monitoring of solar production, grid usage and onsite consumption.

Outcomes

Work on the large-scale rooftop solar system was completed and fully commissioned in February 2020. The Mater Hospital now has a future-proof energy resource to use, enabling it to:

• reduce electricity costs
• increase their energy self-sufficiency
• improve sustainability.

Smart Connected Solar’s online portal enables the Mater to track system performance and provides insight into their electricity use, that can assist in modelling the impact of future energy initiatives. The Mater’s system is future ready and can be integrated into Yurika’s Virtual Power Plant (VPP). The design also provides for inclusion of a large-scale battery, EV chargers and load control. Yurika’s team met all delivery targets, mandated standards and regulatory requirements, and the project was delivered within budget. There were also no safety incidents or lost time injuries.

This project is an example of Yurika’s proven ability to deliver outstanding large scale, distributed energy solutions in complex and difficult environments for our commercial clients.