Western Australian (WA) renewable-developer Carnegie Clean Energy’s (Carnegie) 2MW Garden Island Microgrid in WA has recently resumed operations after a disconnection period to allow for upgrade work on HMAS Stirling.
The development of the microgrid was aided by a $2.5 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and a $3.7 million debt financing agreement on top of $1.3 million in the company’s equity for the project.
This is not the first time the minigrid has been interrupted in its generation as its construction was said to have suffered delays in final commissioning as a result of parallel infrastructure upgrades at the naval base.
In a statement to the ASX, Carnegie said the Department of Defence (Defence) is making significant electrical upgrades as part of the HMAS Stirling Redevelopment Stage 3A Project. These upgrades necessitated the connection point for the 2MW solar array and 2MW/0.5 MWh battery system to be refurbished
Image: navy.gov.au
“Once the relevant construction and programming was completed by Defence’s contractors,” said the statement, “Carnegie was able to reconnect and test the new connection. With this testing complete, Carnegie has now been approved to recommence normal operations of the Garden Island Microgrid.
The microgrid includes the option for wave energy to be incorporated into the microgrid, along with a desalination plant already in operation onsite.
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