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After successfully completing the 60 day trial period, handover of the Coral Bay power station for full commercial operation took place in the last week of October. After commissioning was undertaken in August, the power station has been operating successfully under load whilst no blackouts were experienced and the power station has been successfully performing in accordance with its design criteria.
Coral Bay power station consists of a state-of-the-art control system, seven containerised 320kW low load diesel generating sets, a 500kVA PowerStore unit and three cyclone rated Vergnet wind turbines rated at 200kW each.
The wind turbines are light-weight, two-bladed downwind machines. They are induction type turbines where power output varies with frequency. As the wind instantly changes, the machines experience incredibly fast power responses. A PowerStore unit is therefore required to ensure system stability.
 Vergnet Wind Turbine installed at Coral bay
Successful integration of the diesel generators, the PowerStore and the wind turbines relies on a series of complex control algorithms to ensure correct sharing between the devices to meet the demand of the variable consumer load. In periods of high wind, the PowerStore is charged. In periods of low wind, the energy stored in the PowerStore is injected back into the power system.
Since commissioning, Coral Bay power station has consistently achieved wind penetrations of 90%. This means that at any one time, up to 90% of the power delivered to the consumers is coming from the wind. This significantly reduces the environmental effects from the power station through reduced diesel fuel consumption and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Powercorp has worked closely with Horizon Power and Verve Energy to design a wind/diesel solution for Coral Bay that met the very tight reliability and quality of supply standards required. This involved aspects of modelling, re-design and algorithm development for the wind/diesel product.
Powercorp and Verve Energy have worked closely over many years to develop world leading wind/diesel technology, having completed projects at Denham, Hopetoun, Esperance, Bremer Bay and Rottnest Island together using inverter coupled turbines. Most of these systems have benefited from the use of Low Load Diesels, a product developed by Powercorp and marketed by Diesel & Wind Systems.
The Coral Bay project will see the fourth commercially installed PowerStore worldwide and the second in Australia. The first PowerStore installed in Australia was at the BHP Billiton owned Leinster Nickel Operation, where its primary function has been peak lopping.
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