Solar Design and Installation Awards

2022 award winners

Congratulations to the winners in the 2022 Solar Design and Installation Awards. Read on to find out more about the winners and finalists in the following categories:

• Under 100 kW – Domestic
• Under 100 kW – Commercial
• Over 100 kW

Under 100 kW – Domestic

Winners – Luke Flegeltaub and Luke Neall

Working with Kobi Energy Solutions, Luke and Luke designed and installed a 24.4 kW solar system with a 20 kWh battery on a designer home in East Albury, NSW.

Using premium products and including the construction of a dedicated battery and inverter room at the back of the home, the installation is designed to make the occupants of the home self-sufficient and autonomous from the grid while maintaining the aesthetics of the designer home.

Under 100 kW – Commercial

Winners – Eddie Springer and David Honzatko

Working with Springers Solar, Eddie and David designed and installed a 67.6 kW solar system on the Australian Taxation Office's 15-storey Brisbane CBD headquarters.

The system’s location on the roof of a high-rise building required a number of unique solutions, including a custom designed mounting system that maintained the integrity of the roof and ensuring that the system operated safely with the building's on-site auto-start generator.

The result was an innovative installation that maximised the available roof space, proving the feasibility of high-rise city properties reducing their carbon footprints with solar PV systems.

Over 100 kW

Winner – Gavin Goodhew

Working for Goodhew Electrical and Solar, Gavin designed and installed a 1.2 MW solar system at Queensland’s Sheldon College.

Situated across eight buildings, the system’s design recreates the school’s logo with solar panels and, in a first for an Australian school, uses advanced monitoring and logging software to allow students to learn about solar energy and sustainability.

The system serves almost all the school’s energy needs during school hours, saving up to 5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per day.

2022 finalists

Under 100 kW – Domestic

• Luke Flegeltaub and Luke Neall (Kobi Energy Solutions) for a 24.4 kW solar system and a 20 kWh battery on a home in East Albury, NSW. The system was designed to make the occupants of the home self-sufficient and autonomous from the grid while matching the aesthetics of the designer home.

Under 100 kW – Commercial

• Eddie Springer and David Honzatko (Springers Solar) for a 67.6 kW solar system on the Australian Taxation Office's 15-storey Brisbane CBD headquarters. The installation's location required a number of unique solutions, including a custom designed mounting system that maintained the integrity of the roof and ensuring that the system operated safely with the building's on-site auto-start generator.
• Jiaqi Zhang (Australia Wide Solar) and Thomas Casey (Complete Automation Services & Electrical) for a 97 kW floating solar system at the Concord Golf Club in Sydney. The system, which is Sydney's first floating solar installation, is used to recycle street water drainage for irrigation at the golf course while preserving the available playing area and reducing the course's carbon footprint and electricity bill.

Over 100 kW

• XiaoXiao Fu, James Fisher, Thomas Staines (Smart Commercial Solar), Matthew Kelly and Colin Woolrich (Commercial PV Installations) for an integrated 500 kW solar, 200 kWh battery and 413 kVA generator solution. The first-of-a-kind integrated solution allows the client to charge, discharge, export both solar and battery power, respond to high and low price events, mitigate grid outages, respond on FCAS markets and provide grid stability.
• Gavin Goodhew (Goodhew Electrical and Solar) for a 1.2 MW solar system at Queensland's Sheldon College. The system, which is situated across eight buildings at the school, uses an advanced monitoring and logging system to serve as an educational tool for students and incorporates the school's logo as part of the design.
• Mark Price (Stantec Australia engaged by PCL Construction) for the 153 MW Gunnedah Solar Farm in NSW. The solar farm employed a number of unique solutions during construction, including testing to ensure that it could withstand a 1 in 100-year flood event and the first deployment of meteorological stations on an Australian utility-scale bifacial PV project.
• Tarun Selvaram, Enam Ullah Khan (Origin Energy) and Ryan Webb (Eon Electrical) for a 380 kW rooftop solar and solar carpark system at Oracle's Australian headquarters in Sydney. Due to the client's energy requirements and limited roof space, the system consisted of a 70 kW rooftop solar system and a 310 kW solar carpark solution encompassing four separate solar canopies and two Colorbond canopies.