Hopetoun's Wind-Diesel System

Hopetoun, on the south coast of Western Australia, has a wind-diesel system comprising of two wind turbines and a low-load diesel power station. 

The wind turbines supply up to 40% of the town’s annual electricity requirement. This saves approximately 700,000 litres of diesel fuel and avoids the production of about 1,850 tonnes of greenhouse gases per annum which equates to taking 500 cars off the road.

Hopetoun’s two Enercon E-40 wind turbines are the same as the wind turbines at the Nine-Mile Beach Wind Farm in Esperance. The first was installed in 2004 and the second in 2007.

The turbines have a tower height of 40m and the blades are 22m long, giving the structure a total height of 70m.

The blade tip speed varies from 148 to 281 kilometres per hour.