This Lessons Learnt Report outlines the challenges encountered by Santos during the design and installation of renewable energy generation for its solar beam pumps.
Report extract
Summer months presents hot (>35oC) and wet weather in the Cooper basin. This delayed installation progress by restricting access to the lease sites when dirt roads were wet. Heat was managed through breaks and utilising air-conditioned battery containers. Ideally installation times would be executed from April to October to avoid heat and wet weather implications.
Unstable road conditions to the implementation site resulted in damage to the solar PV panels and battery units. This resulted in the units having to be disassembled/reassembled prior to transport, increasing transport time. Transporting at very low speeds and detouring to bitumen roads when available was found to be more time effective and was implemented for the remaining installations.