A SMALL small but mighty King Island wind turbine, which has alone produced more 10,000 MWh of clean electricity since being installed more than two decades ago, will receive a life-extending makeover this month.
Turbine number two, one of three smaller 250kW Nordex machines that began generating in 1998, will be fitted with a replacement nacelle, which is the main body of a turbine which contains the gearbox, generator, and other components of a wind turbine. that sits atop the tower.
The week-long operation, which will involve a crane being brought on-site at Huxley Hill to lift the new nacelle into place, also provides the opportunity to repair the surface of the turbine’s three blades where they have degraded.
Hydro Tasmania specialist electrical engineer Simon van der Aa said the work would be done by Hydro Tasmania’s specialist engineering consulting business, Entura. “Turbine number two has been out of service for about 15 months, as it takes longer to procure the required parts for this type of older turbine,” Mr van der Aa said.
“Since 1998, the wind farm has produced an estimated 120,000 MWh of renewable power for King Island. The new nacelle should provide turbine number two with another 10 to 15 years of generating life.”
The King Island wind farm has a total capacity 2450kW, and is comprised of the three smaller Nordex machines, and two larger Vestas turbines installed in 2003. Entura specialist engineer renewable energy, Andrew Wright, said the turbine’s old nacelle would not be sent to the retirement home, but instead keep contributing to a cleaner world by being recycled.
“The old alternator will be returned to Denmark for the supplier to refurbish for the next customer, while other equipment that can be salvaged for spares will be held at the power station on King Island.
“Work is currently under way to determine the best course of action to maintain or replace the other four wind turbines, to continue to extend their life,” Mr Wright said.
King Island is not connected to a mainland electricity supply. The Huxley Hill wind farm on King Island was Hydro Tasmania’s first wind farm and it was the second commercial wind farm in Australia.
Until the late 1990s, King Island was powered solely by diesel generation. By 2014, the generation mix incorporated wind, solar and other world-leading technologies to reduce dependence on diesel and achieve a reliable, integrated hybrid renewable energy power system able to power the island entirely from renewables when conditions allow.
This project, the King Island Renewable Integration Project (KIREIP), was an initiative of Hydro Tasmania with funding assistance provided by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. The system is capable of 100% renewable operation and was the first megawatt-class off-grid system with this capability in the world.
In 2021, Entura was engaged to conduct a feasibility study for redevelopment of the wind farm, as the three Nordex N29 250 kW wind turbines installed in 1998 had nearly reached end of life and two Vestas V52 850 kW wind turbines installed in 2003 were expected to reach end of life in 2028.
In addition to the upgrades to the Huxley Hill Wind Farm, Hydro Tasmania is now developing a 1.5 MW solar PV plant in the vicinity of the current wind farm and power station.
Entura has undertaken the project management and tender process for the King Island Huxley Hill Solar Farm on behalf of Hydro Tasmania. The upgrades and extensions to Huxley Hill Wind Farm include a $4.5m solar farm that promises to replace 300,000 litres of diesel on the island every year and aims to offset an additional 800 tonnes of CO² per annum.
High demand and material shortages in the global supply chain have pushed back the construction schedule and the King Island 11kV network won’t likely be delivered until August/September 2023, despite the original goal of finishing this financial year,” Mr van der Aa said.
Hydro Tasmania said that the solar project will form part of the existing King Island Renewable Integration Project (KIREIP).
“It is expected to remain in operation for at least 20 years.”