Port Fairy, Victoria, plans "smart energy precinct" to half industry power costs

Port Fairy (source: One Step off the Grid) 

A group of local businesses, organisations and community outfits in the coastal town of Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia, is laying the groundwork to develop a multi-million dollar smart energy precinct, to slash community energy costs, cut its carbon footprint, and boost security of supply.

Energy generation technology options being considered include wind, solar, biogas, geothermal and wave energy generation. The team is also weighing up smart energy contracts, microgrids and energy storage options.

Ultimately, the hope is that they can reduce energy costs by up to 50 per cent for local businesses and industries, ensuring that they remain competitive, and support jobs in the region.

Port Fairy is no stranger to renewable energy innovation. In 2015 it became host to the state’s first wave energy project. See in this blog: Wave energy to the electricity grid: new Australian renewable energy projects.

Read More: Victorian town plans "smart energy precinct" to half industry power costs. One Step off the Grid, August 1, 2018.

Royal Australian Navy goes renewable with a microgrid in WA

Installing battery storage at HMAS Stirling (Image: Carnegie)

“When it comes to running the nation’s largest naval base, security and stability are generally pretty important. And not just around electricity supply. That’s why the Department of Defence has decided to plunge headlong into renewable energy, teaming up with ARENA and West Australian company Carnegie on a project to make HMAS Stirling, 61 km south of Perth, the nation’s first military installation with its own energy microgrid.”

It will be “the world’s first renewable energy integrated microgrid that has the option of receiving wave energy [Perth Wave Energy Project] and will produce both power and desalinated water for the base. The Project will involve the construction and integration of 2 MW of photovoltaic solar capacity, a 2MW/0.5MWh battery storage system and a control system and will include augmentation of the grid connection.”

“It highlights the growing interest of military organisations worldwide in investing in renewable energy as a way of increasing energy security and stability.”

Read more:The Navy goes renewable. Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), July 31, 2017.

Wave energy to the electricity grid: new Australian renewable energy projects

CETO renewable wave energy generator (from Carnegie Clean Energy).

Two enterprises in Australia have developed the technology to convert wave energy to electricity for the grid.

One is CETO developed by Carnegie Clean Energy, Perth, Western Australia. CETO is named after a Greek sea goddess and harnesses the renewable energy present in our ocean’s waves and converts it into zero-emission electricity and zero-emission desalinated water.

Carnegie has been asked to give a 15MW commercial demonstration of CETO 6 at the world-class Wave Hub facility off the coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.

See also: Carnegie Wave wins $15.5m towards 15MW UK facility, by Sophie Vorrath, 7 Nov 2016.

Also Carnegie is currently contracted to deliver a renewable energy roadmap for Mauritius, including technical, commercial and financial feasibility of high penetration renewable energy; an assessment of the Mauritian wave energy resource and the identification of a preferred site for a commercial CETO wave energy project and the design of a microgrid powered desalination plant on the Mauritian island of Rodrigues.

See also: Carnegie completes plans for Mauritius wave, solar + storage microgrid. By Sophie Vorrath, 29 May 2017.

The other wave energy development is by BPS, based in Sydney, which has developed the bioWAVE concept and is running a pilot project off Port Fairy in Victoria. The Port Fairy Pilot Wave Energy Project involves the design, construction, installation and testing of a full-scale bioWAVE pilot plant equipped with a 250kW O-Drive module. It is being tested during 2017.

Postscript: Carnegie jacks up CETO capacity in bid to take wave power mainstream, by Sophie Vorrath, 14 Nov, 2017.