100kW Solar and 280kW Battery Storage Installation: Coppertree Farms

Coppertree Farms’ butter production facility operates cold storage, dairy processing, and packaging equipment continuously, generating substantial electricity consumption around the clock. Solar generation alone could not offset overnight and weekend loads, making battery storage an essential part of any system capable of delivering material electricity cost reductions across the full production schedule.

Food manufacturing facilities face a different electricity cost structure from standard commercial buildings. Cold storage must maintain precise temperatures at all times, including overnight and across weekends when no solar generation is available. Processing and packaging equipment runs in production shifts that may not align perfectly with peak solar hours. The result is a consumption profile that spans 24 hours: high during production, sustained overnight for refrigeration, and largely immune to the intermittency that limits the value of solar-only installations.

For Coppertree Farms specifically, the premium nature of its client base added a second dimension to the energy challenge. A supplier to Australia’s leading fine dining restaurants and hospitality groups operates in a sector where sustainable production practices are an expectation, not a differentiator. Solar Galaxy’s energy analysis of the Coppertree Farms site identified that a hybrid system combining rooftop generation with large-scale battery storage would address both the operational cost problem and the sustainability position the business needed to maintain with its clients.

Solar Galaxy designed the Coppertree Farms energy system as an integrated solar and battery installation: 100kW of rooftop solar generation paired with a 280kW Evo Power battery, sized to cover daytime production loads from generation and overnight facility consumption from stored energy.

The design of a hybrid solar and battery system requires energy modelling beyond what a solar-only installation demands. Solar Galaxy’s in-house analysts modelled the facility’s interval-specific consumption data to map generation against load across every hour of the production schedule, identifying the periods where battery discharge would displace the highest-cost grid electricity. The 280kW Evo Power battery storage system was specified at a capacity that covers the facility’s overnight refrigeration and cold storage loads without requiring grid top-up during peak tariff hours.

The battery storage system was designed to operate across 3 modes: direct solar charging from the rooftop system during daylight hours, off-peak grid charging during the lowest-cost tariff periods, and discharge during peak demand windows when grid electricity carries its highest cost. This tri-modal operation maximises the financial return from the battery independently of whether solar is generating, allowing the system to generate value on days with limited sunlight. Solar Galaxy managed all grid connection applications, compliance submissions, and council requirements on behalf of Coppertree Farms throughout the project. The full solar battery installation process, from structural assessment through to commissioning, was handled end-to-end by Solar Galaxy’s project team.

The Coppertree Farms system pairs 100kW of CEC-approved commercial solar panels and 100kW of inverter capacity with a 280kW Evo Power battery storage system. The Evo Power battery stores solar generation and draws from the grid at off-peak rates to cover overnight refrigeration and processing loads.

Solar Galaxy is not affiliated with any specific panel or inverter manufacturer. The solar panel and inverter selection for this project followed Solar Galaxy’s independent assessment of the available CEC-approved products against the Coppertree Farms facility’s roof space, capacity requirements, and long-term performance profile. All panels and inverters used in this installation are CEC-approved, meeting the Clean Energy Council’s requirements for grid connection approval by network operators and for eligibility under government incentive schemes including Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs).

The Evo Power battery storage system is a commercial-grade lithium battery platform designed for continuous cycling in industrial and manufacturing environments. Unlike residential battery systems, commercial battery storage at this scale is engineered for daily deep discharge cycles across the operational lifetime of the installation. The 280kW capacity provides Coppertree Farms with significant energy flexibility: the system can power overnight cold storage from stored solar energy, shift load away from peak tariff periods, and provide backup generation capacity in the event of a grid interruption. For information on commercial solar battery storage across different scales and applications, Solar Galaxy’s team can advise on the right configuration for your facility’s consumption profile.