Belnem House Bonaire (https://www.belnemhousebonaire.nl) is a new and exclusive off-grid resort, unique on the beautiful island of Bonaire. The entire resort is completely off-grid. All electric power is supplied by solar panels. An MG lithium-ion battery bank with a capacity of 430 kWh stores the electricity and supplies it to the resort during the day and at night.
Their Challenge
The aim of the client was to introduce the first off-grid resort on the island in its size, by producing the required energy of around 500 kWh per day with rooftop solar energy. Engineering a smart energy storage system is the key factor to achieve this autonomous way of living.
The off-grid system
Off-Grid Factory therefore designed and installed a complete energy system for the resort, containing 130 kWp of solar, 100 kW SMA Core1 solar inverters, Victron MPPT RS charge controllers and 135 kVA Victron inverter/chargers. The heart of the system is the battery pack, which contains 60 pieces MG LFP lithium-ion batteries with a total capacity of 430 kWh. The battery bank runs on a safe 48 V voltage level, controlled by four MG Masters LV.
These Masters LV 1000 PC+ are special versions with an extra heavy-duty precharge. This has been specially developed for use with, for example, 3x 15 kVA Victron Quattro combination inverter/battery chargers.
MG Battery Bank in Combined Mode (SmartLink MX)
The four Masters LV operate in combined mode. All relevant data is sent via NMEA-2000 protocol over the CAN-Bus. The NMEA2000 protocol is a derivative of the industrial J1939 protocol. The SmartLink MX collects this CAN-Bus data with all battery essential parameters. The advantage of this setup is that the end user reads a centralized (combined) state-of-charge. In addition, the backup generator and other systems such as air conditioning can be controlled from the SmartLink MX using the programmable contacts. In this combined mode a parallel redundant system is created. This improves the reliability and uptime of the BESS (Battery Energy Storage System).
20 ft. Container
The energy system was fully integrated and pre-installed in an insulated and air-conditioned 20 ft. container reefer. This assures the required temperature levels end prevents interference with (salt) water, dust and insects from outside. A diesel genset has been integrated for emergency back-up. All together this resulted into a highly redundant system for maximum reliability and availability; independent energy on another level!
Installed components
- System integrator and installer: Off-Grid Factory
- Client: Belnem House Bonaire
- Installation: February 2023
- Location: Belnem Bonaire
- Solar: 130kWp
- Solar inverters: 2 x 50kW SMA Core1
- Solar chargers: 3 x Victron 450/200A MPPT RS
- Inverter/charger: 9 x Victron Quattro 15kVA
- BESS (Battery Energy Storage System): MG 430kWh 60 x LFP280 & 4 x MasterLV1000PC+
- Genset: SDMO-Kohler 130kVA
View the Single Line Diagram here
