Re-Deployable Hybrid Power (Sunshift)

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The Re-Deployable Hybrid Power (Sunshift) project involved a pilot-scale deployment of a fully re-deployable hybrid solar/diesel power plant that has the potential to change the renewable energy landscape in regional and remote Australia. Laing O’Rourke successfully operate and removed this demonstration plant in March 2015. Many remote Australian communities rely on diesel generators that are expensive to run and are subject to energy uncertainty due to the volatility of fuel prices. Having to transport the fuels long distances is also costly, dangerous and subject to variable weather conditions. Where energy is needed, on short-term arrangements (5-10 years), to power remote mine sites there is no easily deployable renewable energy system that can be installed to match this time horizon.Mobilising solar photovoltaics in remote environments is currently complex and expensive. This is because solar farms are traditionally constructed on-site from thousands of components. There is a need for a different approach to solar farm construction, that realises the benefits of modularisation and off-site manufacture.

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