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Coral Bay Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations6
System facts23
Sources reviewed6
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Coral Bay is a real isolated community power system operated by Horizon Power. It opened in 2007 as a wind-diesel microgrid with three tilt-up wind turbines and a short-duration ABB PowerStore flywheel; in 2021 Pacific Energy's Hybrid Systems Australia added a 576 kW/343 kWh lithium-ion BESS and controls capable of shutting all diesel units down when wind is sufficient. Horizon Power now describes three 275 kW turbines, multiple low-load diesel generators, the BESS and advanced controls, with wind supplying about 45% of annual electricity.

Research status
Operational, but entering a major renewal cycle. Horizon Power says the ageing wind turbines are approaching end of life and is developing a Future Energy System replacement. Its published program places market engagement in 2025-26, procurement in 2026-27, delivery in 2027-29 and completion around late 2029. No replacement technology, capacity, contractor or investment decision had been announced by the research cutoff, so the future system must not be counted as installed.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
2,915 kW
Coordinates
-23.14103, 113.77641
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Coral Bay Microgrid?

6 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

ABB

Supplier/integrator of the original PowerStore flywheel and microgrid control architecture. [5][6]

Organization

Horizon Power

Owner/operator of the isolated electricity system and developer of the current replacement program. [2][3]

Organization

Pacific Energy / Hybrid Systems Australia

2021 lithium-ion BESS, microgrid-control and integration provider. [4]

Organization

Powerstore

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Vergnet

Supplier of the original tilt-up wind turbines; current Horizon material does not publish the model. [6]

Organization

Verve Energy

Historical delivery partner for the 2007 wind-diesel project. [3]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Wind
675 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
2240 [1]
Storage
500 kWh Flywheel [1]
Wind generation
Current owner rating: three 275 kW turbines, 825 kW aggregate. Older documents disagree—ABB says three 200 kW units and the recovered project record says three 225 kW units—so 600/675 kW figures should be treated as historical reporting bases rather than current nameplate. [2][3][5][6]
2021 battery
576 kW/343 kWh lithium-ion BESS, approximately 36 minutes at full rated power before losses/reserves. Battery-cell and PCS models are not disclosed. [4]
Historical diesel plant
The recovered technical record identifies seven Detroit Series 60 low-load diesel sets at 320 kW each (2.24 MW aggregate). Horizon's current page confirms multiple low-load diesels but not count, maker or present aggregate rating. [6][2]
Historical flywheel
ABB PowerStore rated 500 kW and 18 MW-seconds (18 MJ, equivalent to only 5 kWh). The legacy database's '500 kWh flywheel' is a unit error: 500 kW is power, not stored energy. [6][5]
Load
Historical peak demand about 600 kW and minimum about 200 kW; no current peak or annual demand is public. [6]
Energy mix
Horizon reports wind provides approximately 45% of annual electricity. ABB's older case study reported instantaneous wind shares up to 95%, more than 80% for roughly one-third of the year and above 90% for about 900 hours/year; these are not annual energy shares or current BESS-era measurements. [2][5]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Wind turbines

Vergnet

Three tilt-up machines; Horizon currently rates each at 275 kW, while older sources use lower ratings and do not provide a reliable model designation. [2][6]

02

Battery energy storage

Pacific Energy / Hybrid Systems Australia

576 kW/343 kWh lithium-ion system commissioned in 2021 with plant controls; cell and converter OEMs were not published. [4]

03

Flywheel (historical)

ABB — PowerStore

500 kW/18 MW-seconds high-power flywheel used in the original configuration. The 2021 battery superseded its grid-forming/high-renewables role, but reviewed sources do not explicitly document disposal date. [5][6][4]

04

Diesel generation

Detroit Diesel — Series 60

Seven 320 kW low-load sets in the recovered historical record; present fleet configuration has not been republished by Horizon. [6]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Management

    1 x 500 kW (18MWs) PowerStoreTM flywheel system [1]

  • Management

    Peak Demand: 600 kW [1]

  • Management

    Minimum Demand: 200 kW [1]

  • Storage

    Powerstore 500 kW Fly Wheel [1]

  • Generation

    3 x 225 kilowatt (kW) Vergnet wind turbines [1]

  • Generation

    7x 320 kW Detroit Series 60 diesel generators [1]

  • Diesel-off operation

    The 2021 BESS and controls can turn all diesel generators off during sufficient renewable production and automatically restart/reconnect them as wind falls. [4]

  • Original architecture

    ABB's flywheel and distributed control system smoothed wind variability and supplied fast frequency/voltage support while low-load diesels supplied longer-duration balancing. [5]

  • Renewal risk

    The three wind turbines are ageing and Horizon is planning their replacement. Published material defines a staged procurement program but does not yet establish the replacement resource mix or whether existing BESS/diesels will be retained. [2]

  • Data-quality warning

    Capacity discrepancies and the flywheel unit error come from historical project literature. Current-owner ratings are preferred, and no unsupported conversion of MW-seconds to kWh should be retained. [2][5][6]

Provenance

6 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Coral Bay Future Energy System Project

    Horizon Power · Primary source

  3. [3]
    WA first for Coral Bay

    Government of Western Australia · Primary source

  4. [4]
    Coral Bay battery energy storage system

    Pacific Energy / Hybrid Systems Australia · Primary source

  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    Recovered Coral Bay Microgrid project record

    Internet Archive / Microgrid Projects · Archived source

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