Australian Air Force taps solar, battery storage for NT facility

An Australian Air Force facility in the Northern Territory will soon be powered mostly by renewable energy, with a hybrid solar and battery storage microgrid to be installed at the facility by ASX-listed Carnegie Clean Energy.

The company said on Friday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Energy Made Clean, had won the Department of Defence contract to design, construct, install and integrate a solar, diesel and battery energy storage system at the Delamere Air Weapons Range, around 400km south of Darwin.
The hybrid power system combining proven technologies and control platforms, a specialty of EMC, will cut the facility’s diesel fuel usage by more than 60 per cent.
It marks the  second Department of Defence contract for a renewable energy hybrid microgrid system, also delivered by EMC at Bathurst Island in 2015.
Carnegie CEO Carnegie Clean Energy Limited (ASX:CCE) has been awarded a contract to design, construct and install a Microgrid System at Delamere Air Weapons Range in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Carnegie’s wholly owned subsidiary, Energy Made Clean (EMC) has been awarded a utility-scale contract by Lendlease as Managing Contractor on behalf of the Department of Defence to design, construct, install and integrate a solar, diesel and battery energy storage system (BESS) microgrid at the Delamere Air Weapons Range, located approximately 400km south of Darwin, NT.
The hybrid power system will supply high penetration solar power to approximately 200kVA peak load and deliver a 61% diesel consumption savings. The design is based on proven technology and control platforms that EMC has been integrating over the last 3 years.
This project will be the second Department of Defence contract for a renewable energy hybrid microgrid system, following on from the Bathurst Island project that EMC delivered in 2015 for a 35kVA peak load system with remote monitoring facilities.
The CEO of Michael Ottaviano said that based on both economics and environmental benefits, all diesel powered loads should be running a renewable microgrid.
“Off-grid, renewable based microgrids are cheaper, cleaner and more secure than current diesel powered systems,” he said.
“This project is a great example of the larger, more complex systems where Carnegie and EMC are demonstrated leaders.
“This system has wide reaching application, with the ability to be replicated in similar utilities bases throughout Australia.”
The project is due for completion in mid 2018.