Huxley Hill Wind Farm

Huxley Hill Wind Farm

Location of Huxley Hill Wind Farm in Tasmania
Country	Australia
Location	King Island, Tasmania
Coordinates	39°56′29″S 143°52′26″E / 39.94127825°S 143.87395767°E / -39.94127825; 143.87395767Coordinates: 39°56′29″S 143°52′26″E / 39.94127825°S 143.87395767°E / -39.94127825; 143.87395767
Status	Operational
Commission date	1998
Owner(s)	Hydro Tasmania
Wind farm
Type	onshore
Power generation
Units operational	3 X 250 kW 2 X 850
Make and model	Nordex N26 Vestas
Nameplate capacity	2.5

Huxley Hill Wind Farm (also known as the King Island Wind Farm) is a wind power station at King Island, Tasmania, Australia, of around 1600 residents, owned by Hydro Tasmania, which supplements the four diesel generators with a combined capacity of 6 MW at Currie Power Station. King Island also has a 100 kW solar capacity provided with monocrystaline solar panels on dual-axis arrays.

The wind farm started generating in 1998, initially with three 250 kW Nordex N26 wind turbines at a cost of $2.5 M ($3,300/kW),^[1] then in 2003 with two 850 kW Vestas Turbines, to provide a total wind generating capacity of 2.5 MW of electricity. Wind generation provides around 35% of the annual generation.^[2]

As a declared Community Service Obligation, the Tasmanian Government provides around $7 million per annum in funding support for the electricity supply equivalent to around $2,500 per resident per annum.^[3]

Flow battery storage

Diagram of a Flow Battery

During the 2003 expansion a vanadium redox flow battery was installed at a cost of $4M (or $20,000 per kW),^[4] containing 55,000 litres of vanadium based electrolyte—one of the first such installations on a wind farm. This allowed up to 800 kWh of surplus electricity to be stored. The battery has an output power of 200 kW, making up around 3% of total capacity, and could be used to smooth the substantial variability in wind output over minutes to hours. When used in conjunction with a variable resistive load, a higher wind penetration is possible, permitting the substantial second to second variability to be controlled with the resistor, reducing the need to spill excess wind through throttling of the turbines. A short-term peak output of 400 kW can be supplied. As a result there has been a substantial reduction in the use of diesel fuel, however the full diesel capacity must be maintained, including the need to maintain spinning reserve for system security.^[5] However, the system proved to be not robust enough and failed after a relatively short life. It has been replaced with a 1.6 MWh "advanced lead acid technology" battery.^[6]

References

Energy in Tasmania

Hydro	Bastyan Butlers Gorge Catagunya Cethana Cluny Devils Gate Fisher Gordon Huntsman John Butters Lake Echo Lemonthyme Liapootah Mackintosh Meadowbank Paloona Parangana Poatina Reece Repulse Rowallan Tarraleah Tods Corner Trevallyn Tribute Tungatinah Wayatinah Wilmot

Wind Farms	Huxley Hill Musselroe Woolnorth

Gas	Tamar Valley Bell Bay

Misc	Basslink

Companies	Hydro Tasmania Aurora Energy TasNetworks Alinta Roaring 40s Powerco

Regulators	Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator

Historical	Duck Reach Lake Margaret Moorina Waddamana Waddamana B Transend Networks

List of power stations in Tasmania

Wind Farms in Australia

New South Wales	Blayney Capital Crookwell Cullerin Range Gunning Hampton Woodlawn

Queensland	Windy Hill

South Australia	Canunda Cathedral Rocks Clements Gap Hallett Lake Bonney Mount Millar Snowtown Starfish Hill Waterloo Wattle Point

Tasmania	Huxley Hill Musselroe Woolnorth

Victoria	Challicum Hills Codrington Hepburn Macarthur Mount Mercer Portland Toora Waubra Wonthaggi

Western Australia	Albany Collgar Emu Downs Nine Mile Beach Ten Mile Lagoon Walkaway

Proposed wind farms	Archer Point Bald Hills Coopers Gap Crows Nest Mount Emerald Silverton Stockyard Hill

List of wind farms in Australia

Huxley Hill Wind Farm

Flow battery storage

See also

References