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In June 1998, POWERCORP installed an ENERCON E30 230kW wind energy converter at Denham a small town in Western Australia located approximately 850km north of Perth and 50km south of Monkey Mia. The high-tech turbine was integrated into an existing isolated grid consisting of four diesel generators.
 Tower view of Denham horizon
In September 1999, Stage II of this leading-edge project has completed with the installation of two further ENERCON wind turbines (each 230kW) in conjunction with a complete upgrade of the diesel generator control.
The planned addition of energy storage flywheels to further reduce the fuel consumption at Denham however, was abandoned after it was demonstrated that the supplied flywheels did not meet the stringent requirements of both Powercorp and Western Power.
To overcome this obstacle, Powercorp developed and installed the world’s first “Low Load Diesel” generator in 2002. This generator, with a special mix of power electronics, modern common fuel rail diesel generation from Detroit and careful combustion temperature control is able to run very lightly loaded (down to below 10% of it’s prime power rating) virtually indefinitely, with a negligible increase in maintenance costs. The advantage behind this philosophy allows the diesel power station to run enough generators to cover the entire consumer load (to prevent black-outs in the event of a wind turbine failure) whilst still utilising the maximum possible amount of wind-energy.
Following the success of the first low load diesel, in 2005 Powercorp installed a second unit at Denham to further increase the utilisation of wind power and reduce the consumption of diesel fuel.
Client: Western Power Corporation
Location: Denham, 850km north of Perth, Western Australia
Principal Contractor: POWERCORP Pty Ltd
Turbine Manufacturer: ENERCON GmbH
Contract Award Date: STAGE (1) - December 1997
STAGE (2) - December 1998
Completion Date: STAGE (1) - June 1998
STAGE (2) - December 1999
Project Value: $5.1 Million
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