In Summer of 2007, we were contacted by the customer. They had lost confidence in the previous company who was to supply their renewable energy system. Two gorgeous homes were being constructed on a magical piece of land. One home was rammed earth, another cobb. Though powerlines could have been brought in for less than the cost of the renewable energy system, the client wished to be independent.

Energy Alternatives reviwed the customers energy requirements and was able to reconfigure most of the existing hardware that had been purchased based on the previous design. The initial system was far too small, and required far too much manual operation.

One home was to lock up stage, so we were able to install the power system in it's final locations, which has been specifically designed into the rammed earth construction. Specific details like hydronic heated floor under battery bank makes the system perform much better.

The second home was at foundation stage, was too far from the first home to run lines, yet they wanted to power the construction with renewable energy. EA installed the system in a 8x8 shipping container to provide construction power. The vast majority of the energy came from 350 watts of solar power, saving generator pollution. Once this home was completed, the energy system was removed from the container and installed in the home permanently. The container went on to house another system.

System Details:

• Two systems are identical in configuration, except PV mount.
• 2.1 kW PV array, on custom-designed dual pole mount.
• 2.1 kW PV array on custom designed flat roof mount.
• Outback MX60 charge controller
• Dual Outback VFX3524 inverters on power panel
• 50 kWh battery bank, 2V global yuasa industrial cells
• Yanmar 13 kW diesel generator with custom auto-start module
• Energy-smart wiring system designed to minimise phantom loads and EMF's.