Case Study: Oraparinna, Wilpena Pound

Oraparinna was once the station homestead of a large pastoral property, and in recent times has become the office and workshop for the National parks in the area. The station complex is now used by Friends of Flinders Ranges National park and Bounceback. The Oraparinna Homestead and Shearers Quarters is located north of Wilpena Pound, South Australia.

Friends of Flinders Ranges use the former shearers quarters at Oraparinna as accommodation when member attend the park for working bees.

The Bounceback rangers have been working effectively for more than twenty years to eliminate a range of feral animals and plants from within the park and from neighbouring properties. Bounceback is a government partnership with conservation organisations and local stations.

The site was originally powered solely with diesel generation; however, this was upgraded to a diesel-battery-inverter system as Stage 1 of the project.  The design brief of the second stage incorporation of photovoltaic panels was to cover 90% of the average site load.

• Remote outback location
• Extreme temperature conditions
• Extensive rocks
• Access Difficulty
• Service Difficulty

Due to extensive rock at the array location, the concrete footings for the 16 solar array frames were poured into above ground formwork. Losses from the DC cable runs were minimized due to the use of AERL MPPT solar regulators being able to operate at a typical 375V input whilst charging the 120V nominal battery bank with 99% efficiency.