Queensland, Australia – October 2029 – Origin Energy, one of Australia’s leading renewable energy providers, has announced a 12% increase in energy output and 28% lower maintenance costs at its 150MW Chinchilla Solar Farm in Queensland after deploying the ABB CP651-WEB control panel. The upgrade, completed in Q3 2029, replaced the solar farm’s outdated distributed control systems (DCS), which struggled with remote monitoring of inverters and inefficient fault response in Australia’s harsh outback conditions.
The Challenge: Harsh Conditions and Efficiency Gaps
The Chinchilla Solar Farm—with 450,000 solar panels and 30 inverters—faces unique challenges due to its location in Queensland’s outback:
- Extreme Weather Impact: Temperatures in the outback reach up to 45°C in summer, and dust storms are common. The legacy DCS’s control panels were not designed for these conditions, leading to frequent overheating and component failures (8-10 per month). Each failure reduced the farm’s energy output by 5-10MW until repaired.
- Remote Site Access Issues: The solar farm is located 300km from the nearest major city (Toowoomba), making technician visits time-consuming and costly. It took 3-4 hours for technicians to reach the site, meaning inverter faults or panel string issues remained unaddressed for hours, resulting in significant energy loss.
- Inefficient Inverter Monitoring: The legacy system provided limited real-time data on inverter performance, making it difficult to detect underperforming inverters (which reduce energy output by 15-20% when faulty). Technicians had to manually inspect each inverter weekly, taking 12 hours per inspection.
- Energy Reporting Burden: To meet Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) compliance requirements, Origin Energy needed to report hourly energy production data to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The legacy system required 10 hours of manual data compilation daily to generate these reports.
“Our solar farm operates in one of Australia’s harshest environments, and our legacy control systems were not up to the task,” said Mark Thompson, Origin Energy’s Renewable Operations Manager. “Extreme heat and remote location led to frequent failures and costly energy loss. We needed a rugged, remote-capable control solution that could withstand the outback and provide real-time visibility into our inverters and panels.”
ABB CP651-WEB: Rugged Control for Remote Solar Farms
After evaluating solutions from SMA Solar Technology and Siemens Gamesa, Origin Energy selected the ABB CP651-WEB control panel for its extreme weather durability, web-based remote access, and seamless integration with the solar farm’s inverters and SCADA system. Key features that solved Origin’s pain points include:
- Extreme Weather Durability: The CP651-WEB is certified to operate in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 60°C—well above Queensland’s summer highs of 45°C. It features an IP66-rated enclosure with dust and water resistance, protecting against dust storms and occasional rain. The panel’s components are also rated for high vibration, ensuring reliability in the outback’s windy conditions.
- Remote Inverter Monitoring & Control: The panel connects to all 30 inverters via Modbus TCP/IP, providing real-time data on energy output, efficiency, and fault status. Operators can monitor performance from Origin’s Brisbane control center and remotely restart faulty inverters (resolving 60% of issues without on-site visits). It also detects underperforming inverters by comparing their output to expected values, alerting technicians to potential issues.
- Automated RET Compliance Reporting: The CP651-WEB automatically records hourly energy production data and generates pre-built RET compliance reports, which are directly submitted to the AER via API. This eliminates 10 hours of daily manual data compilation, saving 3,650 hours annually.
- Real-Time Fault Alerts & Diagnostics: The panel detects faults such as inverter overheating, panel string failures, or voltage fluctuations in real time and sends instant alerts via email or SMS to technicians. It logs fault details and historical performance data, enabling root-cause analysis and predictive maintenance (e.g., identifying inverters that need servicing before they fail).
- Scalable & Easy to Install: The CP651-WEB’s modular design allows Origin Energy to easily add monitoring points as the solar farm expands (a 50MW extension is planned for 2030). Installation was completed in 2 weeks with no disruption to energy production, thanks to its plug-and-play integration with existing inverters.
Results: Higher Efficiency and Lower Costs
Four months after deploying the ABB CP651-WEB, the Chinchilla Solar Farm achieved significant improvements:
| Metric |
Before ABB CP651-WEB |
After ABB CP651-WEB |
Improvement |
| Annual Energy Output |
280 GWh |
313.6 GWh |
12% Increase |
| Monthly Control System Failures |
9 |
1 |
89% Reduction |
| Technician Site Visits |
15/Month |
4/Month |
73% Reduction |
| Daily RET Reporting Time |
10 Hours |
0.5 Hours |
95% Reduction |
| Annual Maintenance Costs |
€240,000 |
€172,800 |
28% Reduction |
“The CP651-WEB has transformed our solar farm operations,” Thompson said. “During a recent heatwave where temperatures hit 44°C, the panel kept working flawlessly, and we remotely resolved 3 inverter issues without sending technicians to the site. The 12% increase in energy output translates to an additional €1.68 million in annual revenue from renewable energy certificates (RECs).”
Sarah Johnson, ABB’s Australia Product Manager for Renewable Energy Controls, highlighted the CP651-WEB’s suitability for remote solar farms: “Australia’s outback solar farms need control solutions that are tough enough to handle extreme conditions and smart enough to enable remote management. The CP651-WEB delivers on both counts, helping operators maximize energy output and reduce costs.”
Origin Energy plans to deploy the ABB CP651-WEB across 5 additional solar farms in New South Wales and Western Australia by 2031, targeting a group-wide 10% increase in solar energy output and 25% lower maintenance costs.
