Twenty-five years ago, it became home to Australia’s first windfarm.

Today, King Island is a blueprint for off-grid, hybrid renewable energy systems that have been replicated in remote communities in Australia and around the world.

The island’s remote location off the north-west coast of Tasmania, means it has historically relied on diesel to power the population of about 1,800 people.

But over the past 10 years, Hydro Tasmania, and experts from its consultancy firm, Entura, have built a grid that combines:

• wind and solar generation
• battery storage
• a diesel-backed Uninterruptible Power Supply
• a smart grid system

• an advanced control system that can be tracked in real time.

   

Two-thirds of King Island’s annual energy supply is now renewable.

This has slashed diesel consumption, saving 2.1 million litres a year and cutting annual carbon emissions by 5,700 tonnes.

A new $3.35 million 1.5MW solar farm is set to reduce diesel use and carbon emissions even further. Comprising 5,000 panels over six-hectares, the new solar farm will save an additional 300,000 litres in diesel and 800 tonnes in carbon emissions annually.

Hydro Tasmania CEO Ian Brooksbank says King Island offers lessons not just for remote, off-grid communities but for Australia more broadly.

“How to integrate wind, solar and storage, while reducing fossil fuels and maintaining grid stability, is an important lesson as the nation transitions to renewable energy,” Mr Brooksbank says.

The solar farm was completed in collaboration with Entura, which provided project management and tender services, and construction firm GEM Energy.