Mawson Wind Farm

Off-grid, distributed generation, renewable
Location: Mawson, Antarctica

The site

Australian Antarctic stations have previously required 2.1 megalitres of diesel fuel annually. Transporting fuel and oil to Antarctica across broken ice flows and through breaking surf is a costly and sometimes risky exercise - fuel spills have occurred on occasions.

This is the first installation of large wind turbines in Antarctica. The installation machinery (e.g.100 T crane) is far heavier than anything previously delivered. Each foundation consisted of around 60 m 3 of concrete and was anchored to Mawson's granite bedrock with 64,3 m deep ground anchors. Each turbine was erected in two days and connected and commissioned in five days.

Technology

For this project Enercon E-30 wind turbines were modified with extra insulation and special steels in castings and tower sections were required to meet the high average wind speeds and cold temperatures (which drop as low as -36 °C). Other requirements included not using a gearbox (no oil-leaks due to seal problems in the cold), variable pitch blade mechanism to allow easy control of power output on a soft grid and good sealing against snow ingress.

Because of the dry atmosphere at Mawson, blade icing is not an issue and the turbines can safely operate at up to 125 km/h.

Powercorp's computerised IPS system has been adapted to control and optimise the output of the wind turbines and diesel generators to match the station electrical load.

Energy purchase and supply

The plant, connected to the station 415 V ring-main grid, is expected to produce 4.2 GWh of electricity per annum. In the first month of operation, the plant generated 116 MWh limited to 80 per cent of the station load with 65 per cent on average. Average wind speed was 64.5 km/h.

The generator is expected to be an accredited generator under the Mandated Renewable Energy Target. The project was entirely internally funded and approval to proceed was based solely on its economic viability, principally in terms of fuel cost savings.

Environmental impact

The project is expected to save 1200 tonnes per annum of CO 2 greenhouse gas emissions.
There will be a substantial reduction in the risk of oil spills during the refuelling operations with refuelling now likely to occur every four to five years, not annually.

Planned extension

The plant is planned to incorporate an additional turbine, expanding capacity to 900 kW.

Similar systems will be installed at the Australian Antarctic Casey and Davis stations.

Fine-tuning of the system will continue to achieve an expected 100 per cent of the station load for around 75 per cent of the year. This will be achieved with a short-term flywheel energy system and hydrogen generator/fuel-cell power system. Energy generated by wind and stored as hydrogen may be transported to remote field camps.