SolarMax has announced that it has provided its grid-connected solar inverters to Bird Munchies; one of Australia’s leading manufacturers of bird seed products through its installation partner, Ygrene Energy.

SolarMax has delivered four 15kW 15MT2 and one 10kW 10MT2 grid connected inverters through Ygrene Energy to Bird Munchies for a 70kW rooftop solar PV system comprising of 230 x 305kW Yingli Solar solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in Queanbeyan, New South Wales.

The solar PV system will generate over 105MWh of solar power annually. It is expected to save Bird Munchies up to $25,000 a year in energy bills and to reduce its reliance on electricity from the grid. The system will shrink Bird Munchies’ carbon footprint by 104 tonnes every year and deliver an internal rate of return (IRR) of 27 percent per annum.

Bird Munchies director Alan Irvine says, “Being an Australian manufacturer, we are consistently faced with pressures to produce more competitively priced products. With solar energy, we will now be able to reduce our operating overheads and pass these savings on to our customers. Being in pet business, we are also proud to be doing our bit through solar which will reduce our environmental footprint.”

Ygrene Energy Managing Director Tim Davaris says, “Bird Munchies is one of the many manufacturing facilities in Queanbeyan to install a solar PV system and they too had considered solar power as a viable alternative that is right for their business. We are delighted these businesses have seen the cost advantages solar power can offer.”

Bird Munchies will rely on SolarMax’s remote monitoring platform and utilise MaxWeb to access the SolarMax WebPortal over the internet. This monitoring solution provides a real-time display of performance data such as input and output voltages, input and output currents, frequency, device temperature and yield and it will allow Bird Munchies to get ongoing updates on their systems’ performance.

SolarMax Australia key account manager Gavin Merchant says, “SolarMax is pleased to be providing Bird Munchies with our quality Swiss-made solar inverters. Ygrene Energy has been instrumental in promoting the quality that SolarMax inverters offer and we are delighted to be part of Bird Munchies solar installation.”

SolarMax’s MT series inverters are easy to install, reliable and designed to last. With a maximum efficiency of up to 98 percent, these inverters are suitable for both indoor and outdoor installations. The MT series inverters satisfy the safety requirements stated in AS/NZS 5033:2012 standards (IEC 62109-1/-2) as well as the AS 4777.2 and AS 4777.3 standards. SolarMax products are accredited by the Clean Energy Council (CEC). All SolarMax string inverters have a five year standard warranty which can be extended up to 25 years.