Sunshine Coast Solar Farm
Renewables | Sunshine Coast, QLD
Overview
The Sunshine Coast Solar Farm project faced challenges with a low-lying, flood-prone site during the wet season. Dura-Base mats provided essential temporary access for 100t cranes, crane lift platforms, and mud-free staging areas, enabling the project to be delivered safely and on time.
Wet Weather Construction Challenges
The Sunshine Coast Solar Farm is an initiative from the Sunshine Coast Council to move towards renewable energy. In fact, the council became the first local government to offset its entire electricity consumption across all its facilities and operations from renewable energy generated.
The site was at a former sugar cane field, chosen for its optimal solar perspective and complimenting the use of agricultural production.
Biggest challenge to the construction crew was the fact that the site is also a low-lying field prone to flooding and majority of works was during the rain season.
As part of their wet weather mitigation, the solar tables were designed to be installed much higher off the ground. This required longer piles, around 10 to 12 piles per 20m x 4m table, as well as two 100t cranes with a made-to-order lifting jig for the install.
Dura-Base Mats for Access and Platforms
Dura-Base Mats were deployed on this job for the following applications:
Temporary access for crawler cranes
Crane lift platform
Mud-free staging areas
The rapid twist-lock interlocking feature of Dura-Base allowed our clients to deploy and redeploy the same mats over multiple locations, cutting down drastically the use of imported fill material.
Results
With the project delivered safely and on time, the Council is on target to save $22M over 30 years.
Project Details
Key Benefits
Resource Conservation
- Drastic reduction in imported fill material
- Mats redeployed across multiple locations
- Mud-free staging areas reduced waste
Emission Reduction
- Reduced truck movements for fill transport
- Efficient crane movement reduced idle time
Minimised Time On Site
- Rapid twist-lock deployment and redeployment
- Project delivered safely and on time
Soil Conservation
- Protected low-lying ground from heavy cranes
- Minimised impact on agricultural land
Related Products
Gallery
Proven Performance
JWA's composite matting solutions have been trusted by industry leaders across Australia for over a decade.