CloudCAM Reference Site

Fulcrum3D treat all information regarding monitoring sites in the strictest of confidence. Below is a case study from monitoring sites that we are at liberty to discuss with express permission from our clients.

Epuron – Ti Tree / Kalkarindji/Lake Nash Solar Power Plants, Northern Territory, Australia

Epuron own and operate three high penetration solar power stations with battery storage for grid stabilization via ramp-rate limiting. Ti-Tree, Kalkarindji and Lake-Nash are each ~300kW solar power stations with over 85% instantaneous penetration into Power and Water Corporation (PWC) micro-grids. A grid stabilization system with a large quantity of lead acid batteries provides ramp-rate limiting during cloud events. Fulcrum3D CloudCAM was installed (Figure 1) and integrated into the real-time control systems at Ti-Tree and Kalkarindji each power station as the batteries near the end of their useful life. 

CloudCAM reduced battery usage by approximately 30% while increasing the average energy yield of the solar power station by 4-5% through:

  • The removal of inefficiencies associated with charging and discharging the batteries
  • Allowing the solar power station to provide more power during periods of clear sky.

Epuron is able to view the images and performance of CloudCAM in real-time via FlightDECKTM – Fulcrum3D’s secure server and visualization system (see Figures 2 and 3).

The success at Ti-Tree and Kalkarindji (<1 year payback) led Epuron to install CloudCAM at Lake-Nash in 2016.

CloudCAM has now been operating continuously for 3 years and continues to deliver demonstrated savings:

  • To Epuron through avoided battery capex and maintenance
  • To PWC through reduced diesel consumption and spinning reserve requirement