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(trigger warning for solar nerds – this story has a very sad ending)

Finn asked me to write a post on the worst solar installation I ever had to do. The worst? Ah, let me count the ways I could interpret that… this could become a series.

To pick one that comes to mind, I need to set a scene:

A fairly substantial 1930’s(?) bungalow on the main road of a prominent well-to-do suburb. Broad verandahs, detailed eaves and timber fretwork made this place quite pretty. It must have been expensive to build and had recently been given much more expensive reconfiguration as an up-to-date childcare centre.

The brittle terracotta tiles, complex roofline, three orientations, chimneys, exhaust fans and blithe solar panel placement (x 109 modules) by the satellite-enabled and visually-challenged sales consultant meant this was always going to be an arse to complete.

The detailed solar panel layout was developed using an aerial photo, martini shaker and glitter.

I was most heavily involved in wiring the two inverters via a dozen or more conduits through the roof, and getting 10 pairs of DC cables marshalled together …

Count ’em, there are five conduits into that junction box and another passing by.

.. while also running two AC feeds and putting everything down the wall cavity away from prying little fingers.

Take the drill, climb over and down there…

Thread cables down here… mind the brick ties.

Viola! AC cables are hidden.

However, it was a successful mission. It gave the team something to curse about, a yardstick for madness, a reason to punish the sales staff so they would buy pies and drinks, and it offered a sense of achievement.

Well, the street view camera didn’t quite catch us in the act, but we were there in July 2019.

Fast forward 13 months and the next available image in August 2020 doesn’t show any solar panels on the roof. Even weirder, there was a temporary fence and a 20-ton excavator.

And by December 2020, the entire place had been erased.

At the time of writing, this is the most recent aerial photograph available:

There used to be a heritage building and a much-loved solar-powered childcare centre here.

So $98 million later, we have a bigger intersection for more snarling traffic (as promoted by a dude who can’t even afford a tie or kerning on his website) and a big patch of dirt.

While the former government wasn’t sharp enough to understand induced demand, at least the current office holders, renewable champions that they are, will use the freshly cleared urban space for a new ambulance station.

Hopefully, that will have a better roof for solar panels.

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As a child, Anthony marvelled at his Solarex toy helicopter made with shards of smashed solar cells. With some education, he became a jack of all trades & master of several, qualified contractor, builder, roofer, auto and licenced electrician, veteran car restorer & Dad. After 14+ years of lugging, lifting, plumbing and fixing, wiring, dialling and evangelising for everything solar power-related, on-grid and off, he's got a few yarns to share.

Oh dear, that’s heartbreaking stuff. All that hard work erased forever!

We’ve seen those random panels on that new childcare and was sad to see it go just few months later. Oh well, hope someone can make sense of that intersection upgrade.

Why would they even bother putting the solar system in at all in the first place.

Surely, the premises would have been notified that the building was going to be demolished for roadworks not too very far in the future (what 18 months or so?). Roadworks notifications usually take years and consultation with community that their properties would be acquired.

Obviously, someone missed the agenda somewhere of impending roadworks.

What a waste of time, effort and equipment, let alone the money for a complex installation.

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