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Uluinakorovatu Primary  (1749 Suva)

About

Docs & Links

Specifications

Works & Maintenance

CO2 & $s

Contacts

Charge data

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About

The school on Beqa Island has 5 teachers delivering classes for 76 students from kindergarten to year 8.

The school had a small solar system only wired for power to the office and a classroom and needed to be supplemented by their small generator. The new solar is supplying power to all the school buildings and 5 teachers' homes. All of which have been newly wired for safe delivery of the power. The old system will be redeployed to power a freezer for the community.

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:
Date collected:
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
At the time of installation the school was using only a small amount of fuel and relying on a small solar system to power the office and one classroom. Teachers' homes were not supplied until the new solar was installed.

Uluinakorovatu Primary

Annual school fuel saving (litres) (1)

100

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

250

Annual cartage saving (litres) (3)

15

Total annual fuel saving (litres) (4)

365

Fuel saving over 30 years (litres)

10,950

Annual CO2 saving (kgs)

930

CO2 saving over 30 years (kgs)

27,922

Annual AUD saving (8)

$ 1,730

Annual USD saving

$ 1,176

Annual FJD saving

$ 2,595

30 yrs AUD saving

$ 51,900

30 yrs USD saving

$ 35,280

30 yrs FJD saving

$ 77,850

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
01 June 2023
DC Coupled

Inverters

Inverter type

Victron MultiPlus-II/5000

Charge controller

Victron MPPT 250/85

Panels

Panel type

Jinko Tiger 415

Number of panels

12

Array (watts)

4980

Mountings

Mountings

Roof mounted

Brand

Clenergy PV-ezRACK Solar Roof

Batteries

Battery type

Simpliphi PHI 3.8 Lithium Ferro Phosphate

Number of batteries

5

Kilowatt hours

19.0

Batteries mounted

Simpliphi Boss 6 Cabinet

General electrical works

The existing distributed 240V wiring was adequate to deliver the power to the buildings, but new wiring was required in the school rooms and teachers' homes. All receiving new LED lighting and power sockets.

The school has had several previous attempts at small solar, most of which has failed - that wiring will be left alongside the new wiring. It is understandable that, with previous failures, there is hesitation that our new system will be the quality we suggest, so everyone is happy to the leave the old wiring beside the new.

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
Click to open important standard documents and links for all schools
School survey Contains private contact information, so not public. (General ... 28/08/2023)
Signed agreement Contains private contact information, so not public. (Commitments ... 13/05/2023)
Data Entry Page (Reporting ... 13/05/2023)
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)
Letter teachers regarding home power (Commitments ... 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)
Inverter data entry page for printing (Reporting ... 15/03/2023)
Child Protection Policy (Policy etc. ... 15/03/2023)
Energy Efficiency Poster (Resources ... 15/03/2023)
Works & Maintenance
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Uluinkakorovatu Primary School General  Supply and install Off Grid System safety Label Kit, Clean energy council provide a QR scan code with instructions – See APPENDIX 2 for more detail.
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Use P-touch label maker to identify AC circuits and make individual instructions for site specific reasons
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AC MAIN Switchboard  Install a 6mm PE green/yellow cable link (under 2 screws so removal cannot occur) between the Earthing bar and Main Neutral bar, label this link M.E.N
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Replace 32 A MCB with 50 Amp MCB (Output main switch) install with 6mm 2C+E from Inverter Output to AC Main Switch.
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20 Amp MCB (people) is powering the other buildings M.E.N Switchboard #1, #2
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Replace C10 People MCB with RCBO C10 Type A .03mS (personal protection RCD for general purpose power-outlets)
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Other AC Switchboard - M.E.N Switchboard #1 & #2 Each switchboard needs a new 10 way earthing bar.
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Install a 6mm MEN link from new earthing bar to Neutral bar
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Replace MCB’s – 2A or 4A with RCBO 6A Type A .03mS) this would provide RCD protection to property (.1mS) and protection to persons (.03mS)
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Tighten the earthing bolts and bonding connections adequately/correctly
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Secure all internal hinged panels back into placement
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Fit all switchboard doors that are open or of
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Change over switch. The changeover switch is a Inverter By-Pass.
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AC Input 1 (generator) with AC Output 1 (MPII) and common AC load
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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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Battery Cabinet Screw the Boss Battery Cabinet to the wall using roofing screws, restrain the battery from falling over during a natural event / earthquake / volcanic eruption
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Battery Shunt Disconnect the VE Battery shunt, must be screwed to the backside of the wooden main panel. Move battery shunt into Boss Battery Box. Connect onto the Negative DC Bus-way provided inside the Boss Battery cabinet
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Finish the main battery lead entry's into the cabinet with glands/ bushes, seal the hole with fire retardant putty.
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Battery Isolation 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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Lynx IN Install new 2Pole NHOO Fuse disconnector, 100Amp fuse links for Mppt 250/85
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From Lynx IN to NH00 use 35mm flexible cable
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DC Fusing protection: Disconnect and remove the ZJBeny 32A DC Isolator switch
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Install 3 x 20 Amp/ 500V DC MCB’s (ZJBeny or Suntree) with 8 way surface enclosure
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Install 1 x 63 A DC MCB PV DC Array Isolator
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Install 1 x 25mm Twin PVF1 from DC MCB to 250/85 MPPT + / -
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Disconnect the Positive and Negative battery leads at the MPII Inverter, remove the flexible conduit (Manufactuers instructions) – fit bushes around the boss enclosure cable entry/exits. Seal with silicone or foam.
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reconnect the battery leads to the MPII Inverter
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PV Array:15 x Jinko 415 W in Parallel with multiple Y branches Divide the 3 groups with 3 PV twin cables and 1 earth wire.
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Install a second conduit from the PCE switchboard with 1 twin core PVF1 cables and 1 x 4mm PE earth cable
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Install conduit plain to thread adaptor and 25mm Compression gland to seal the conduit on the roof
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Remove all Y Branches
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Remove all non MC4 branded plugs and sockets, connect PV modules into 3 strings of 5 modules and test for ( VOC = 204.05 VDC / ISC 17.5 Amps
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Remove all plastic cable ties, use PV2 Stainless clips to hold wires into place, use S.S cable ties where required for holding/attaching conduits.
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Disconnect and remove the existing Clenergy L feet assembly
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Install Clenergy Tilt system at 20 degree.
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Connect the new PE green/yellow earthing conductor (minimum size 4mm) to the Clenergy solar tilt system array with Clenergy earthing lug attachment. connect the PE bonding wire to ECO rail. Earth/connect both top and bottom Clenergy rails with minimum 4mm PE, use the eco rail splice on all rails, effectively earth bonding.
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Spray the fittings with cold galv paint or use Denso grease tape to protect from corrosion and sea salt laden air.
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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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Multi-Plus Equipment: Victron Energy configure with Microsoft/windows laptop and VE MK3 programmable device
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General Repairs
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Term Report
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