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Sawau District School  (1727 Suva)

About

Docs & Links

Specifications

Works & Maintenance

CO2 & $s

Contacts

Charge data

Term Reports

Procedures

About

The school on Beqa Island has 5 teachers delivering classes for 87 students from kindergarten to year 8.

Prior to solar, the school used a portable generator for limited electricity during the day. Teachers’ homes, hostels and accommodation for boarders' families (rostered weekly to cook for the boarders) used a combination of small portable solar, kerosene lanterns or small generators. The new solar system provides 24-hour power to all the facilities and gives the school the valued option of night study.

A donor also supplied a new LED data projector and 20 kgs of library books focused on sustainability.

School Role & Facilities
Students:
Teachers:
Classrooms:
Kindergarten:
Offices:
Library/computer area:
Teachers homes in the school grounds:
Boarders (live-in students):
Hostels (Boarding houses):
Dining rooms:
Comments and other bulidings:
Date entered:
Project Funding

Donor - anonymous

As always a big thank you to our business partners - click/tap for details.
Images and Videos
Our school commits to have a group of students spend at least 15 minutes, most weeks, picking up plastics. So, we keep our small patch on the earth as free of plastic as possible - its a small action we do to protect marine and other wildlife. We hope all schools in the world join us in doing the same.

Carbon Dioxide and Financial Savings
Document
Th school has a 3kva generator that is used two days per week and consumes approximately 90 litres of fuel per month (includes contribution to boat fuel to collect the fuel from the mainland) So the solar system will save in the order of FJD300 per month that can be diverted to education resources. (fuel consumption and costs will be confirmed/clarified at the time of installation).

Sawau District School

Annual school fuel saving (litres) (1)

1,080

Annual fuel saving 5 teachers' homes getting solar (litres) (2)

250

Annual cartage saving (litres) (3)

162

Total annual fuel saving (litres) (4)

1,492

Fuel saving over 30 years (litres)

44,760

Annual CO2 saving (kgs)

3,804

CO2 saving over 30 years (kgs)

114,138

Annual AUD saving (8)

$ 3,984

Annual USD saving

$ 2,709

Annual FJD saving

$ 5,976

30 yrs AUD saving

$ 119,520

30 yrs USD saving

$ 81,270

30 yrs FJD saving

$ 179,280

Total of All It's Time Solar Schools

Total annual school fuel saving (litres)

21,580

Total annual fuel saving 94 teachers' homes getting solar (litres)

4,300

Total annual cartage saving (litres)

3,289

Total annual fuel saving (litres) (4)

29,169

Total fuel saving over 30 years (litres)

875,070

Total annual CO2 saving (kgs)

74,373

Total CO2 saving over 30 years (kgs)

2,231,424

Total annual AUD saving (8)

$ 82,738

Total annual USD saving

$ 56,253

Total annual FJD saving

$ 124,107

Total 30 yrs AUD saving

$ 2,482,140

Total 30 yrs USD saving

$ 1,687,590

Total 30 yrs FJD saving

$ 3,723,210

Assumptions

Fuel cost in the islands in AUD/litre (5)

2.00

Fuel cartage consideration % (3)

0.15

Annual fuel consumption per teacher's home wired (litres) (2)

50.00

Annual generator maintenance consideration AUD (6)

1500.00

CO2 produced per litre of fuel burned (kgs) (7)

2.55

AUD to USD conversion rate used

0.68

AUD to FJD conversion rate used

1.50

Notes

(1) This is the annual fuel consumption based on reporting from the school at the time of school survey and affirmed at the time of installation. It refers to direct fuel use by the school, not including teachers' homes.

(2) The fuel consumption of teachers' homes varies considerable between homes and over time. Their sources of energy varies from their own small generators to shared generators, still some use kerosene for lighting and some small solar (often failing) for lights and charging. Recently on Beqa Island two of the 7 households at one school were each using 10 litres of fuel per week and some were using very little. So, we have chosen the conservative underestimate of each household saving of 2 litres per week (approx. 5 kgs of CO2).

(3) Most schools have a cost to get fuel to the school - usually small boats and car/truck on the mainland. The costs vary from small amounts to some schools where the cartage cost is almost the same as the cost of the fuel itself. The cartage consideration (dollar and carbon cost) is a percentage of the total fuel consumption, because it varies widely from school to school we have chosen quite a conservative estimate.

(4) Includes cartage and teachers' home consumption estimate that therefore contribute to the total CO2 saving. But we do not include the teachers home in the financial saving - rather we just refer to the savings from the school generator.

(5) This is the current published diesel price in Fiji presented in AUD. Often the islands pay a higher price, but that is not factored in, so generally the price will be a small under estimation.

(6) Generators often require repairs and eventually replacement. That cost varies significantly from school to school, so a conservative value is applied to represent this component of cost/saving for all schools. It is not possible to calculate that accurately for every school, hence the estimate across all.

(7) Burning diesel produces CO2 at a rate of 2.68 kgs/litre, whereas petrol produces it at a rate of 2.31 kgs/litre. We have chosen 2.55 as the approximate for our calculations because there is more diesel used than petrol in the school generators.

(8) The fuel savings in the teachers' homes are not included in the calculation of financial savings for the school. Although teachers are asked to make a small contribution each term (FJD70) for their now 24-hour power and this goes to the school to buy more education resources.

Specifications
Document
10 June 2023
DC Coupled

Inverters

Inverter type

Victron MultiPlus-II/5000

Charge controller

Victron MPPT 250/85 & 150/35

Panels

Panel type

Jinko Tiger 415

Number of panels

16

Array (watts)

6640

Mountings

Mountings

Ground mounted

Brand

Clenergy Solar Terrace II

Batteries

Battery type

Simpliphi PHI 3.8 Lithium Ferro Phosphate

Number of batteries

6

Kilowatt hours

22.8

Batteries mounted

Simpliphi Boss 6 Cabinet

General electrical works

There are three pillar boxes at the school that were used to accept power from a village generator (was only for a few hours at night, but that generator failed 7 years ago). On inspection this distribution system, after a few repairs, is up to standard and is acceptable to leave in place. Although at the buildings, the distribution boards all needed replacement and new internal wiring was installed in all classrooms, hostels, teachers' homes and facilities for the families that stay during the week to cook for the boarders.

4 amp breakers are installed into the teachers' homes - this limits appliances to a maximum 960 watts and capacity to use modest sized electrical appliances, but not electric cook tops etc. That power limiting strategy means effective use of a reasonably sized school solar system and all in the school community are very happy to have this balanced level of 24-hour power supply.

Partners

Solar contractor

Solar Fiji

General electric works constractor

Solar Fiji

Contacts
Document
First Name Last Name Position Phone Email FB Note Edited
Charge data
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Document

This data is currently only available to the school and admin.

  Event

Docs & Links
All General Commitments Policy etc. Reporting Resources
Line diagram (General ... 17/12/2023)
Agreement signed (Commitments ... 13/05/2023)
Data entry instructions (Reporting ... 13/05/2023)
Energy Efficiency Poster (Resources ... 15/03/2023)
Off Me sticker artwork If needing more stickers for switches, contact Its Time Foundation and we will supply a new sheet of 70mm x 20mm stickers. (Resources ... 15/03/2023)
School OHS Policy (Policy etc. ... 15/03/2023)
Inverter data collections instructions Some installations my have remote monitoring, but it remains a requirement for the school to collect data, please keep up to date. (Reporting ... 15/03/2023)
Child Protection Policy (Policy etc. ... 15/03/2023)
Inverter data entry page for printing (Reporting ... 15/03/2023)
Works & Maintenance
Document
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AC Main Switchboard Install 32 Amp MCB which supplies M.E.N Switchboard #2 and # 3
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General Repairs Other AC Switchboard - M.E.N Switchboard #2 & #3  Each switchboard needs a new 10 way earthing bar
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General Repairs Install a 6mm MEN link from earthing bar to Neutral bar
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General Repairs Replace MCB’s - with RCBO 6A Type A .03 mS and 10A Type A .03mS) to provide protecion to property and to persons.
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General Repairs Tighten the earthing bolts and bonding connections adequately/correctly
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General Repairs Secure all internal hinged panels back into placement
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General Repairs Fit all switchboard doors that are open or off
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General Repairs Change over switch. The changeover switch is a Inverter By-Pass
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General Repair AC Input 1 (generator) with AC Output 1 (MPII) and common AC load
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General Repair Install AC Input 1 to changeover switch must be wired to a 20A MCB main switch – install a four way surface enclosure with this MCB beside the changeover switch.
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General Repairs Battery Cabinet  Screw/ attach the Boss Battery Cabinet to the wall using roofing screws, restrain the battery from falling over during a natural event / earthquake / volcanic eruption / cyclone that shakes the building
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General Repairs Disconnect the Positive and Negative battery leads at the MPII Inverter, remove the flexible conduit (Manufactures instructions) –fit bushes around the boss enclosure cable entry/exits. Seal with silicone or foam. reconnect the battery leads to the MPII Inverter
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General Repair Battery Shunt  Disconnect the VE Battery shunt from inside the grey plastic box and move this into the battery cabinet. Connect the battery side of the shunt onto the Negative DC Bus-way provided inside the Boss Battery cabinet
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General Repair Battery Isolator Switch  Battery Positive (red) and Battery Negative (black) must be 50mm. Rewire from the Battery Isolation switch (NH00 Fuse Carrier) to VE Lynx IN
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General Repairs Lynx IN  Connect Lynx IN positive and negative to Battery DC Fusing devices
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General Repair Install new 2Pole NH00 Fuse disconnector, 100Amp fuse links for Mppt 250/85
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General Repair Install 35mm flexible cable from Lynx IN to NH00
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General Repair Install new 2Pole NH000 Fuse disconnector, 40 Amp fuse links for Mppt 150/35
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General Repair Install 35mm flexible cable from Lynx IN to NH000
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General Repair DC PV Fusing protection:  Disconnect and remove the 2 x ZJBeny 32A DC Isolator switches
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General Repairs Install 3 x 20 Amp/ 500V DC MCB’s (ZJBeny or Suntree) with 8 way surface enclosure
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General Repairs Install 1 x 63 Amp /500 V DC MCB PV Array DC Isolator
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General Repair Install 3 x 6mm Twin PVF1 from the 63Amp MCB to MPPT 250/85 + / - terminals.
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General Repairs Install 1 x 20 Amp /500 V DC MCB PV Array DC Isolator with 4 way surface enclosure
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General Repairs Install 1 x 6mm Twin PVF1 from the 20Amp MCB to MPPT 150/35 + / - terminals.
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General Repairs PV Array:16 x Jinko 415 W  Divide / wire into 4 groups of 4
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General Repairs This ground array requires 4 PV twin cables, with 1 earth wire
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General Repairs Install a second underground conduit from the PCE switchboard with 1 twin core PVF1 cables and 1 x 4mm PE earth cable, use conduit plain to thread adaptor and 25mm Compression gland to seal the conduit.
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General Repairs Remove all Y Branches, remove any TY brand solar plugs/sockets.
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General Repairs Remove all non MC4 branded plugs and sockets, connect PV modules into 4x4 and test for ( VOC = 163.24 VDC / ISC 17.5 Amps)
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General Repairs Remove all plastic cable ties, use PV2 Stainless clips to hold wires into place, use S.S cable Ɵes where required for holding/attaching conduits
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General Repairs Connect the new PE green/yellow earthing conductor (minimum size 4mm) to the Clenergy solar terrace ground array with Clenergy earthing lug attachment. connect the PE bonding wire to T rail. Earth/connect all four Clenergy T-rails with minimum 4mm PE, effectively bonding them all together, do not re-use the existing earthing lug, the point penetraƟons are designed as single use. When the earthing is completed correclty, spray the fiƫngs with cold galv paint or use Denso grease tape to protect from corrosion and sea salt laden air.
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General Repair Ground Array C post distances are 1.7m apart, the correct distance is 1.95m.This has created an overhang greater than normally allowable, however within reason its not necessary to install more C Posts at this site.
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General Repairs Install self tapping screws into the rail splice joiners, using the center line, one screw on each side of the rail/splice. Minimum of 4 screws per joiner.
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General Repairs Set and Configure – See APPENDIX 1 for more detail.  Smart-Solar Mppt 250/85 Victron Connect App: Victron Connect, Password default 000000
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General Repairs Multi-Plus Equipment: Victron Energy configure with Microsoft/windows laptop and VE MK3 programmable device
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EGL Upgrade Report
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LABELS Supply and install Off Grid System safety Label Kit, Clean energy council provide a QR scan code with instruc􏰀ons. – See APPENDIX 2 for more detail.
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AC Main Switchboard Install a 6mm PE green/yellow cable link between the Earthing bar and Main Neutral bar, label this link M.E.N
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AC Main Switchboard Install with 6mm 2C+E cable for AC Output 1
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AC Main Switchboard Replace 20 A MCB with 50 Amp MCB (output Main Switch)
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