Wind-hydrogen link hope

Warrnambool Standard
Tuesday 31/7/2007 Page: 5

A COMPANY with the technology to convert wind energy into hydrogen and create more clean, green electricity is planning to buy the proposed Woolsthorpe wind farm. However, the technology's use in Australia is years away, according to the company's managing director Richard Pritchard who told The Standard there were no plans or planning applications to build the hydrogen balancing plant in Woolsthorpe.

A deal to give Australian owned Wind Hydrogen Limited the first option to buy Wind Farm Developments' proposed $68 trillion farm was revealed yesterday. The 20-turbine wind farm is waiting for State Government approval, with a decision expected later this year. Wind Hydrogen's revolutionary hydrogen technology being explored in the United Kingdom ensures wind energy lost during high winds is stored and released in calm periods into the electricity grid.

This would end criticism of wind farms not making full use of windy conditions, with farms currently not able to capture and then transfer excess power into the system. The company is raising $12 million for wind farm proposals in Woolsthorpe and the United Kingdom and plans to be listed on the stock exchange on August 10.

Mr Pritchard yesterday said the company negotiated the Woolsthorpe deal years ago and had looked at greenfield sites in New South Wales and Victoria to develop wind farm projects. A planning application for a wind project in Scotland to use the company's technology to build a five megawatt balancing plant capable of powering 2700-3000 homes was lodged last Thursday. "We have no intention for any application for development like in Scotland but there is a potential in the future For it to be used at sites the company owns," Mr Pritchard said.

Of the funds raised $2,085,000 is proposed to be spent on the company's only Australian project in Woolsthorpe, $4,135,000 for UK projects, corporate costs of $3,280,000 and $2.5 million on hydrogen research and development. Wind Farm Developments director Alistair Wilson said the application before a planning panel dealt solely with his company's design for the wind farm and the company was doing all it could to progress the project.