Energy storage trial

Albany & Great Southern Weekender
Thursday 10/5/2007 Page: 6

A REVOLUTIONARY energy storage project is to be trialled at Windy Harbour. Melbourne-based Cougar Energy Limited is to establish Australia's first multi-installation demonstration project for renewable energy storage using its vanadium redox battery (VRB) technology. Cougar Energy initiated the trial after being offered $1.83 million in project funding under the Australian Government's Advanced Electricity Storage Technologies (AEST) program.

The company was then able to offer Windy Harbour residents and Manjimup Shire the opportunity to upgrade their existing systems or to install new renewable energy-based power systems using VRB instead of lead acid batteries as the storage component at competitive pricing. After funding details are finalised with the government, Cougar expects to have a 10kW storage system in place by the end of the year.

VRB Energy Storage System (VRB ESS) managing director Dr Len Walker said the units, which stored electricity produced by solar or wind generators, were ideally suited to Windy Harbour. Residents now use small diesel or petrol generators with some solar and wind energy to meet their electricity needs. "The aim of the Windy Harbour project is to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of diesel and petrol-driven engines for electricity generation," Dr Walker said.

"Renewable energy electricity generation sources, primarily solar photovoltaic or small wind turbines, coupled with appropriately sized VRB ESS and power conversion equipment, will be used to create a number of reliable, environmentally friendly and continuously available, high quality power systems." Cougar Power Systems manager Rob Blackwell said Windy Harbour was chosen for the first trial of the VRB technology after contacts made in 2005.

He said the company met the community and Manjimup Shire about 12 months ago to discuss their off-grid power supply problems. "We decided Windy Harbour was ideal when the Australian Government grant was given," Mr Blackwell said. "This will give participants in our scheme the opportunity to install the latest technology remote area power supply systems at much cheaper than normal prices. "We plan it to be a demonstration case." The VRB is an electrochemical energy storage device, where energy (electricity) is stored indefinitely in a liquid and can be recovered instantaneously.

Mr Blackwell said the trial would involve installing a cell stack drawing and distributing power from two external 1,000 litre polyethylene tanks containing the electrolyte. He said VRB had better efficiency and much longer cycle life than lead-acid batteries when used with solar and wind energy. Cougar Energy's grant was one of five successful funding applications, totalling $17.6 million, jointly announced by Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The grant announcement follows Cougar's recent review of the VRB technology which confirmed there was significant potential for the technology to be incorporated as part of Australia's Remote Area Power Supply requirements, at both the residential and township levels.