Windpower in Australia Where are the Wind Farms? Australia is a resource rich country, and has a large and powerful coal industry. Production is high and reserves are very large. Coal is a significant source of export dollars. Massive reserves of very cheap low- grade brown coal in the southeast of the country are being extracted to fuel the Victorian electricity industry. Large industrial concerns such as an aluminium smelting industry result in electricity production averaging about 4500 megawatts, or over 1000 watts CONTINUOUSLY for every person in the state of Victoria. A decade or more of capital investment in coal- fired generating plant has resulted in a current situation of excess generating capacity, and low electricity prices, as the recently "dis- aggregated" power stations compete for market share, through a market structure based on the British model. Unlike the situation in the USA and Europe, there is no government requirement for renewable energy sources to be fast-tracked or given financial incentives as a part of the overall energy mix. Under these circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that there are no wind farms in Australia, with the exception of a 2.5megawatt(MW) wind farm connected to a diesel power station (14MW) in the isolated Western Australian town of Esperance. We did get close, when in 1993 a 10 megawatt wind farm proposed by a private consortium for the Victorian coastline was shelved as uneconomic when no guaranteed price could be reached with the Victorian Government. Australian Windpower: This is IT? Recent market research indicates that electricity customers want the choice of renewable power, and are prepared to pay for it. Unfortunately it appears that Australia is lagging well behind North America and Europe in developing a windpower industry. The Breamlea wind generator, located on the southeast coast of Australia, is an Australian-made machine of a mere 60 kilowatts peak output, erected by the former State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1987 at a cost of about AUD$200,000, as a "demonstration" project. Industry restructuring resulted in its sale by tender in 1994. The ATA's successful bid was AUD$18,000. A volunteer group of ATA members overhauled the mechanical, electrical and control systems of the wind generator. Damage to the mounting bolts of the slewing gearbox (the one that keeps the machine pointing into the wind) meant that the machine was not operational when purchased. It ran very well for 2 months from 8 December 1994. Then a faulty fuse in the local utility's distribution wires kept the machine out of action for most of February and March 1995 (it took a long time to track-down this intermittent fault!). April on this region of the Australian coast is virtually becalmed as a regular seasonal phenomenon, and it was not until June, our winter in the southern hemisphere that the winds, and our electricity production finally reached acceptable levels. Expected annual production is 100,000 kilowatt-hours, which saves 1.4 million kilograms of CO2 over ten years. "Unique" Although there is one electricity utility in Sydney which owns and operates a 150 kW "WindMaster" wind turbine, the Alternative Technology Association believes it is the only community group in Australia to be selling significant amounts of "Greenhouse-friendly" wind energy through the grid. The role of Big Business Selling of power from a remote site to our customer CitiPOWER Ltd. (an electricity distribution company) in urban Melbourne is proving to be a fascinating case-study in the feasability of the radically re-structured electricity "free-market". It is exercising the minds of the regulatory authorities, and a resolution of remaining problems is expected shortly. In the process an important precedent will be set for the future marketing of embedded generation in the network, including generation from renewable sources. It is also encouraging to see a tentative relationship developing between big business and the environmental movement. Such relationships will hopefully become commonplace in the near future, with shareholders communicating their concerns to corporate managers , and consumers demanding the choice of environmentally sustainable technologies. M. Gunter 13 October 1995