Advanced Energy Resources

Port Gregory Wind & Solar Farm (3.5 MW)

Generation - Wind turbines

Port Gregory Wind and Solar Farm

Location: Port Gregory, WA

Output: 3.5 MW (wind and solar) + 2MW/0.5MWh battery storage

Commissioning: Late 2019 (currently under construction)

 

AER is currently building a 3.5MW wind and solar farm with battery storage at Port Gregory in Western Australia.

Located approximately 50km south of Kalbarri, adjacent to the famous Hutt Lagoon (Pink Lake), the project consists of a 2.5MW wind farm using five refurbished Enercon wind turbines, a 1MW solar farm and a 2MW/0.5MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) utilising an innovative, Australian first connection topology.

The battery is manufactured by Kokam and the battery inverters by Siemens.

The project will supply energy to GMA Garnet’s operation in Port Gregory with excess generation being exported into the local electricity network.

AER’s developed and designed the project and is also the project/construction manager. Once built, AER will undertake commissioning, operations and maintenance of the overall project.

The project is currently under construction with commissioning due December 2019.

About the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS):

The BESS utilises a back-to-back inverter configuration that decouples the renewable energy generation and load from the electricity network via a DC link, creating a true microgrid that is independent, but integrates with the existing electricity network.

This design overcomes challenges associated with connections to weak, fringe of grid electricity networks. The design can provide backup power during grid outages, and facilitates a very high penetration of customer-side renewable generation (up to 90%).

The BESS has been designed to offer on-demand support to the local electricity network in future should this be required by the network operator.

The Project received funding from ARENA as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program.

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