Coral Bay Wind-Diesel System

Coral Bay is a small, isolated town between Carnarvon and Exmouth about 1200km north of Perth in Western Australia. Due to its isolation, Coral Bay relied on diesel generators for its electricity, which meant high costs and a reliance on importing diesel into the region.

This changed in 2007 when Verve Energy installed three 275kW wind turbines and a back-up low-load diesel power station. The system has an innovative energy storage system which allows high amounts of wind energy to be utilised.

The three wind turbines produce up to 45% of Coral Bay’s electricity requirements which saves 440,000 litres of diesel each year.

If a cyclone threatens the town, the turbines can be lowered to prevent any damage. The power lines to distribute the electricity in town are underground.

The power station has eight low-load diesel engines capable of producing 2240kW of electricity.