Golf Club Inaugurates Major Solar Plant to Become 70% Self-Sufficient in Energy

• Solar installation forecast to produce 600,000 kWh of clean, renewable energy each year, making Frösåker Golf & Country Club 70% self-sufficient in electricity

• SolarEdge inverters and Power Optimisers chosen to meet the club’s high energy demand and overcome challenging aspects of the install

May 29, 2023 – Frösåker Golf & Country Club outside Västerås is expected to become 70% self-sufficient in electricity, when the solar plant installed during the winter is put into operation.

The 1824-module installation is expected to produce approximately 600,000 kWh of clean, renewable energy each year, reducing the club’s annual energy bill by 800,000 SEK and cutting annual carbon emissions by 300 tonnes.

“We want to invest in solar cells for environmental reasons. We have already taken several steps to improve our sustainability, for example by transitioning our fleet of onsite vehicles, golf buggies and mowers to all electric models. They are quiet and emit no exhaust fumes,” says owner Christer Ral.

“Our site also has high electricity costs. In the fixed contract we had until recently, electricity cost 75,000 per month. Now that contract has expired and the cost increased to 200,000 SEK in January,” says Christer Ral.

Most of the electricity consumption is used to heat the resort's hotel, clubhouse, shop and other buildings. During the summer, the irrigation pumps draw large amounts of electricity.

Installer, El av Sol, recommended a SolarEdge DC-optimized inverter solution to generate the large amount of energy required and to overcome challenging aspects of the installation.

The plant is located on the playing green, in a location with good sunlight, but relatively inconspicuous so as not to interfere with play.

As it is located on the course, it is a long way from the connection point. With SolarEdge inverters, it is possible to run the DC cables of the plant over long distances. This reduces the installation cost, as the DC cable costs only one tenth as much as the AC cable.

The inverters also have a fixed high string voltage of 750 volts, which increases efficiency as it reduces the voltage drop over long distances.

The plant is also equipped with SolarEdge Power Optimisers to increase energy production. These eliminate the difference in power that always exists between panels due to different irradiation or differences in material. The panels can also become dirty, especially in a case like this, when they are fitted in a recess. Without optimization, the output of the panels is reduced to the output of the weakest performing panel in the string. Power Optimisers compensate for the differences between panels and typically provide 4-8% more electricity production over the lifetime of the system.

”Another reason we chose SolarEdge is that the monitoring system immediately alerts the golf club’s maintenance team if panels drop in efficiency or fail to deliver for any reason,” says Patrick Gustafsson, Key Account Manager at El av Sol.

The installation at Frösåker Golf & Country Club is divided into two arrays, each with its own meter. Since each installation is less than 500 kW, a tax allowance is available to compensate for the energy tax on electricity used by the installation itself, improving the system’s return-on-investment period.

It was inaugurated in the spring to coincide with the golf club’s busiest time of the year.

“Since the golf season starts in earnest in April, the consumption matches well with the production in the solar plant,” says Christer Ral. “We expect a payback period of eight years, but with today's electricity prices it should be quicker.”

“Then, of course, you can't ignore the marketing value of an environmentally friendly golf course. That's why we will have a display in the clubhouse that constantly shows how much electricity we produce and how much the carbon footprint is reduced by this," concludes Christer Ral.