Based in Townsville, Queensland, Sun Metals Solar Farm was established in 2018 to power Sun Metals’ zinc refinery, saving the 24-hour facility on grid power costs, including peak-demand tariffs.
When the Sun Metals Solar Farm was commissioned in early 2018 as Australia’s largest solar farm at the time, peak capacity was 106MWac. By 2024, capacity had dropped to 60MWac.
Designed to reduce the cost of grid power consumption, these losses of more than 40 percent solar power generation at Sun Metals Solar Farm over five years were contributing to higher production costs and diminishing the expected return on investment for the metals manufacturer.
Seeking to restore yield at Sun Metals Solar Farm, in early 2024 Ark Energy approached All Energy Contracting (AEC) to carry out maintenance and repairs on the solar farm.
Over a period of four months, AEC comprehensively replaced all underground DC string cabling to more than 1.26million modules at the Sun Metals Solar Farm.
AEC’s strict safety systems and processes, combined with experience in working around live high-voltage cabling underpinned the successful project.
Completed in August 2024 two months ahead of schedule, AEC’s four-month maintenance project restored Sun Metals Solar Farm from peak capacity or 60 its original yield of 106MWac.