Juwi to install solar-plus-battery system on Great Barrier Reef

German renewable project developer Juwi AG has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with the University of Queensland for the execution of a hybrid solar-plus-storage project at a marine research station on Heron Island off the coast of Australia, the company said on Monday.

The high penetration solar, battery hybrid power solution will be deployed for the Heron Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef. It consists of a 500-kW rooftop installation and a 0.6-MWh vanadium flow battery, integrated with diesel generators that use a microgrid control system.

“Hybrid power solutions offer the potential to significantly reduce the amount of diesel consumption in often pristine environments whilst maintaining reliability. On top of that hybrid power stations now generate electricity at a lower cost than traditional fossil fuel power stations,“ said Dave Manning, Global Head of Hybrid for Juwi.

The project follows the example of its predecessor – Juwi’s solar-plus-storage project at the Degrussa mine in Western Australia, which has been operating for three years now and has reduced diesel consumption at the mine by some 5 million litres per year.

The Great Barrier Reef-based project is expected to meet over 80% of the power needs of the research facilities on a yearly basis. Operations are scheduled to start in mid-2019.

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