Flexible solar panels in harsh Antarctic environment
Date Posted:9 February 2018
Solar 4 RVs has supplied the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) with Solbian flexible solar panels and Genasun solar charge controllers for installation on Macquarie Island since 2016. We thank them for the photo just in of AAD Communications Technician Tom Luttrell standing beside the Mount Jeffryes repeater station.
The AAD, based in Hobart, Tasmania, is a division of the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment and Energy. The AAD generates solar power in remote field locations for a number of different scenarios including powering VHF radio repeaters, remote radio installations, automatic weather stations and remote area power supplies.
Macquarie Island is a long, narrow, steep-sided sub-Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean forming a plateau, 34 km long and 5.5 km wide. It is located, approximately half way between Australia and Antarctica and presents a tough environment for flexible solar panels to be attached to a water tank!
Photo RS53269 Credit: Kyle Williams/Australian Antarctic Division