Phillip Riley

Flinders Island to Complete Switch to Renewables Before 2017 Ends

Hydro Tasmania, a facility owned by the state, is reported to formally “switch on” the Flinders Island Hybrid Energy Hub next month. The project will finally be completed after nearly two-and-a-half- years following it s initial announcement to the public. Its goal is to meet a minimum of 60 percent of the island’s 6.7 gigawatts yearly demand with renewables and to control the output of the 3 megawatts diesel power station.
A report from the website of RenewEconomy states that the hub is already leading the Bass Strait island to almost 80 percent renewables and the team who who works behind it is convinced it will be able to supply 100 percent of demand before 2017 ends.
The Flinders Island project, which costs around $13.3 million, follows up on Hydro Tasmania’s success with King Island. It also utilized a similar integration of solar, wind, and energy storage to attain 60 percent renewable from 22010 to 2014.
The Implementation Manager of Hybrid Energy Solution at Hydro Tasmania, David Brown, stated, “The technology mix is very much the same at Flinders Island, but with a bit more solar and the whole project has been easier, cheaper, and quicker.”
Brown stated on the possibility of establishing additional energy hubs in Australia, “We are actively talking to people across the Pacific and making in-roads into the mining sector. We are also looking at (rolling the technology out) in embedded networks, in grid-connected projects, fringe of the grid. A lot of this is fairly transferable.”
He also believes that the residents of Flinders Island are now much satisfied because they have a more sustainable, much cheaper, and more reliable power supply. “Power prices on Flinders Island, King Island, and most remote places are regulated,” Brown added.
Click here to read the full report.

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