The annual awards, presented at the ATRAA 2009 formal dinner, are an opportunity to showcase excellence in practice and to recognise and encourage innovation. The awards also encourage continual improvement and learning within the industry, help build on its successes and encourage good innovative practice to the mainstream.

“Not only are we seeking compliance, we are looking for innovation, strong communications and information provision, and excellence in standards of workmanship,” said Sarah Jones of the Clean Energy Council (CEC) on behalf of the judging panel.

This year saw ten awards presented to installers, including two new Inspector awards. These new awards were based on inspections conducted as part of the CEC’s audit program.

Going Solar and Magrath Plumbing won the award for the Domestic Solar Water Heater (or Heat Pump) System Installation category. The judges commented on the system’s suitability for the frost prone area, and said that differing heat inputs were well integrated.

The Designing and Installing a Grid-connect Solar Photovoltaic Energy System over 20 kW category was awarded to Andy Henry and Brad Donovan from Solgen Energy. The judges said that this was an unusual grid-connect system that used two faces of the roof to maximise yield.

Duncan Macgregor, Nathan Martin and Glenn Robertson from Going Solar took out the award for Designing and Installing a Grid-connect Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systemless than 5 kW , receiving praise for the use of tilted array frames that both ensured a good annual yield, and allowed for a high degree of visibility and thus awareness of solar PV within the school community.

Going Solar’s Duncan Macgregor, Nathan Martin and Glenn Robertson also won the Designing and Installing a Grid-connect Solar Photovoltaic Energy System 5 kW to 20 kW category.

The Designing and Installing a Stand-alone Solar Photovoltaic Energy System less than 5 kW category was awarded to Kim Atkinson of Natural Technology Systems. This installation was commended as a true hybrid system with an interactive inverter, twin high quality ground mount arrays, feeding equipment and flooded cell battery bank in a custom built ‘engine shed’.

David Donnelly from Bushlight and Rede Ogden from Ogden Electrical won the Designing and Installing a Stand-alone Solar Photovoltaic Energy System over 5 kW award.

“A high quality, high reliability system for very remote community housing, operating in very harsh conditions,” commented the judges.

The award for Innovation Solar Photovoltaic Energy System was won by SunPower Corporation’s Tanum Davidson, Alan West, Craig Savill; and Rede Ogden, for the innovative use of roof space and mounting and cabling methods.

The inaugural Best Inspected Stand-alone Renewable Energy System award went to Brian Cooke from Australian Solar Industries. Commendation was given to the clever use of a pre-assembled ‘power shed’, the excellent use of warning and safety signs, and the high level documentation and security, which facilitates maintenance.

A special mention for this category went to Rainbow Power Company’s Adrian Winkler.

The other new category, Best Inspected Grid-connected Renewable Energy System, was awarded to Jarrod Tiewierik from Harmonic Industries. This award paid particular tribute to the overall attention to detail of a typical medium power PV based grid-connect system.

A special mention for this category went to Cooloola Solar Systems.

The ‘P’ Plate Award for the Best Provisional Design and Installation of a Solar Photovoltaic Energy System was awarded to Freeda Fisher from Next Connection Australia.

The awards are judged by industry experts. This year, judges included Standards, Training and Accreditation members Ian Dawson, Rod Menzies and Sandy Pulsford; the University of New South Wales’ Graham Morrison and University of South Australia’s Violeta Babovic; and Glen Morris and Robert Murphy.

The awards were sponsored by Selectronic and presented by Sales and Marketing Manager Lindsay Hart. Over 550 people attended the ATRAA 2009 dinner, which was sponsored by Conergy.

To view all the photos and more from ATRAA 09 visit www.ecogeneration.com.au/gallery