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Sunny outlook for Lord Howe’s sustainability initiative

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Lord Howe Island Board, The Lord Howe Island Signal

Transitioning Lord Howe towards renewable energy, the completion of the solar array in April 2021 is a momentous achievement in the Board’s delivery of environmental initiatives.

Designed to protect the island’s World Heritage status and move Lord Howe Island towards a more sustainable future, this project, underpinned by community-based Sustainable Energy Working Group, is designed to supply at least two-thirds of the electricity needs of the community each year, equating to at least a 67% reduction in diesel fuel consumption – a saving of around 360,000 litres of diesel a year.

Since its commencement on the 22nd April 2021 the solar array has been providing 79% of the island’s power generation (cumulative annual average), which can be viewed on the LHIB Solar dashboard at http://photonscada.com/data/perspective/client/LHI

This project received funding from ARENA as part of ARENA’s Regional Australia’s Renewables program.

Statistics to date:

LHI Energy Generation graph
  • There have been 47 days of diesel free generation over the 2021 period.  Additionally there have been 8 days with less than 2 hours of diesel generation / day.
  • Fuel efficiency was 13.8 kWH / litre during the 2021 period compared to 3.89 kWH / litre for the 2020 period.
  • The maximum daily demand for the 2021 period was 454.2 kW.
  • The minimum daily demand for the 2021 period was 124.6 kW.
  • The average daily demand for the 2021 period was 233.8 kW.
  • A battery charge level of 75% and above was achieved on 98 days during the 2021 period.

High levels of renewable generation are being achieved on a regular basis, however, the NSW lockdown has resulted in lower island electrical demand and this in turn allows high levels of battery charge level to be achieved.

It is expected that once the island returns to full tourist activity towards the end of the year the subsequent increase in electrical demand will impact battery storage levels and result in a lower percentage of renewable energy storage on the system.

Whilst we would still hope to achieve diesel generation free days at this time, it is unlikely the trend would continue at current levels.

The Lord Howe Island Signal 30 October 2021

This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 30 October 2021.

Related stories: Solar hybrid renewable energy project; Solar hybrid renewable energy project visited by NSW MPs.

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