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Location: Ces Glenholmes Sports Oval and Playing Field, Shellharbour, NSW
Product: M50 (5m) PowerStack Poles powering We-ef VFL530 Fixtures, one with a double light head.
Date/Year: 2025
Project Partners: Shellharbour Council, Buckford Illumination Group and We-ef lighting.
Project Overview: Shellharbour City Council were looking to deploy sustainable area lighting around the Ces Glenholmes Oval as part of a carpark and amenities upgrade.
They wanted a solution that was renewable, but looked good. With existing flood lighting and infrastructure already in the area, it needed to blend aesthetically with these features.
Working with NDY, they approached Buckford Illumination Group to come up with solution. The requirements for that solution were that it must be sustainable, allow choice over the luminaire fixture, and that it could be installed with minimal disruption to the use of the existing facilities.
This was a project where, although there was existing electrical infrastructure within reach of the proposed installation site, the mandate was for something grid-independent.
Because this was part of upgrade and the council team were looking to have something installed quickly and efficiently, grid-supply wasn’t really an option. Not only was this not sustainable, but it would have meant trenching and cabling in supply to desired areas.
This process would have resulted in disruption to existing landscaping, and would restricted access whilst works were completed. So an off-grid option was the way forward.
There are a number of different types of grid independent power poles, and a lot of them use solar as energy supply. However some of these require bulky external power storage components. This would not have been in keeping with the council’s desired look for the area.
Other ‘solar powered’ poles have a large flat panel attached to the top, which is both distracting visually, and can be a more vulnerable to wildlife interaction and weather damage.
And there are solar pole options that come with a pre-integrated luminaire. Whilst this can be convenient, it also prevents the end user having any real choice over the final look and function.
The solution: PowerStack’s vertically integrated solar power pole was the ideal solution for sustainable area lighting in this project.
The pole has a sleek finished look, with no external components. It’s 100% off-grid, so it could be installed without lengthy works access or the costs and time to extend grid supply.
As an independent power pole, the PowerStack vertical solar poles could be integrated seamlessly with the chosen We-ef fixture for the project on the required runtime.
Essentially, PowerStack hit all the key points in this brief.
As a result, four M50 (5m) PowerStack poles were deployed around the project site. These were running a We-ef VFL530 fixture, with a fifth pole featuring a double headed version of the same luminaire.
The poles were deployed on a 3 hour night profile so there was illumination during key hours, enhancing safety and security for visitors to the Oval. Due to the reduced runtime need, only a 5m pole was required, with just 1 large solar panel on all 4 sides. PowerStack systems have the ability for flexible design, where the number of panels and batteries required is altered to match the power draw requirements and the sunlight hours that a location gets across the year.
This flexibility, the ability to integrate with the chosen luminaire, and the ease of installation, made PowerStack a winning choice in this project.
”This project had a requirement for operational lighting, as part of an amenities and carpark upgrade, that would complement existing infrastructure in look and feel, and ideally was sustainable in nature. As a good-looking, off-grid solution that could be deployed without trenching, PowerStack was a great option.”
PowerStack’s vertical, modular design enables maximised sun capture for each location. The vertical panels mean the pole is harvesting sunlight from sun up to sun down. This makes it different from traditional flat angle solar, which only captures during high sun hours. Whilst flat angle solar can capture a lot of sun at its highest point, it’s vulnerable to overheating during this time, which can cause a loss of efficiency.
PowerStack is consistent, steady capture across the whole day. And with vertical panels on all 4 sides, it’s also capturing sunlight across the year, even as the sun’s path across the sky changes. Essentially, each PowerStack system is selected based on the mid-winter sun hours for that location. So based on your running wattage, and the sun hours for your site on the shortest day of the year, the team will work with you to decide which pole you need. The result is reliable off-grid power, all year round.
Tested against the extremes of temperature and weather in both Australia and the USA, PowerStack is designed to be incredibly hardwearing. The solar panels are made of a special polymer and being glassless, are shatterproof. This makes them a sturdy, reliable choice for areas with high winds, and with no flat angled panel to to act as a wind sail, they’re more practical than many ‘traditional solar’ alternatives.
For more information on how the PowerStack systems are designed and what you can power with them, please GET IN TOUCH. For a full list of PowerStack suppliers, see the ‘Where to Buy’ page.
PowerStack is proud to work in collaboration with the technology brands and devices we work with, and everyone else across the project from the integrator, to end users and distribution or channel partners.
PowerStack vertical solar can be used to power a number of different technologies including security cameras, IoT sensors, lighting, help points and wi-fi networks. Aside from reliable power supply, vertical solar has numerous benefits for both the integrator and the end user. Here are a few of the key features that made PowerStack a standout for this project.
Reliable green energy that enables power supply in areas that grid power can’t reach. Providing 24/7 uptime, totally off-grid.
Rugged, weatherproof design with shatterproof, fire resistant, glassless solar panels.
100% off-grid electrical energy supply, more sustainable than the grid and coal-fired power.
Brand and technology agnostic, giving choice and flexibility to the designer and end user, in function and finished look.
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