Customisable solar power is on the menu

Best known for serving New Zealand’s famous green-lipped mussels, The Mussel Pot is a small restaurant with big energy needs.

Open daily, The Mussel Pot is highly conscious of its large energy consumption - using 46,821 kWh of energy annually - but had little control over it. The restaurant’s owner, Tracy Cacciamani, said, “With the rising cost of electricity, and the fact that we are trying to do our small bit for the environment, we began investigating solar power.”

Local PV installer SunPower Solar NZ used flexible microinverter technology from Enphase to customise The Mussel Pot’s system based on the building’s unusual tin roof. Beneath the tin roof lay a timber layer strong enough to support the system.

“We use Enphase microinverters for their versatility and compatibility with all roof types,” said the director of SunPower Solar NZ, Patrick Green. “Safety, monitoring, quicker start-up time, higher production; the Enphase advantages are endless.”

After reinforcing the support beams, SunPower Solar NZ installed 40 Trina panels attached to Enphase microinverters separated into rows using three single-phase cables. SunPower Solar NZ decided to leave only small gaps between the rows to maximise the number of panels that would fit on the roof, ensuring optimal energy production.

The Enphase Enlighten monitoring platform offers The Mussel Pot at-a-glance performance data; comparison to production in previous weeks or days; and a system status indicator, which tells the restaurant if the system is performing as expected.

Due to the system’s specific design and the restricted access between panels, granular monitoring was essential in order to accurately diagnose and locate issues, if any arise. Enlighten enables remote performance diagnosis that gives The Mussel Pot insight into its solar PV system.

“Our Enphase system has surpassed our expectations in production, and we love getting emails from Enlighten that tell how our system is reducing our carbon footprint,” said Cacciamani.

The addition of solar now covers 31% of The Mussel Pot’s electricity bill through the production of 14,750 kWh of clean energy per year. In combination with the included Sunpower Solar NZ energy audit, the system is saving the restaurant a total energy cost of $6325 annually.