Off-grid at Bracken Ridge State High.
Increased use of energy-intensive technology in secondary schools across the country is pushing energy demands to the limit. In addition, peak demand periods are being strained on hotter days as air conditioning works overtime. So the only solution has been to ration electricity, leaving students in some classrooms to ‘sweat it out’.
At Bracken Ridge High School in Brisbane, upgrading the school’s power system to accommodate a new classroom was prohibitively expensive, so a Hivve Power System operating off-grid offered the perfect the solution. “The power generated and stored by the system is also sufficient to ensure comfortable and healthy indoor temperatures and air quality year round,” explains Richard Doyle, Director of Hivve Technology.
A Hivve modular classroom was commissioned in June 2018 with a Hivve Power System providing ample power for the classroom’s technology, lighting and air conditioning needs. Clean energy harvested by PV solar generation is stored in a Tesla powerwall. As David Wrench, Executive Director at Hivve explained, “The cost of the Hivve’s off-grid power supply was significantly lower than the cost of connecting the classroom to the School’s power supply network. Better still, there are no ongoing operating costs because the classroom uses its own zero carbon emission solar energy.”
Bracken Ridge serves as a test case for other schools facing similar power supply challenges. It paves the way for more schools equipped with an off-grid energy system as increased dependence on technology is transforming our education – and our lives.