Microgrid
ProjectsSubmit a project

Home / Directory / King Island Tasmania Australia Microgrid

Oceania & Pacific / Island & remote community

King Island Tasmania Australia Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations5
System facts21
Sources reviewed8
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Hydro Tasmania's King Island system is a continuously evolving off-grid utility network, not a single static project. The 2010-2016 KIREIP program integrated 2.45 MW of wind, 470 kW of solar, a 3 MW/approximately 1.5 MWh advanced lead-acid battery, two 1 MVA diesel-UPS flywheels, a 1.5 MW dynamic resistor, demand response, diesel/biodiesel generation, and autonomous controls. A new 1.5 MW/5,000-panel solar farm entered service in 2023, and Hydro Tasmania began a $11.5 million wind-farm repowering plus battery replacement in September 2024, due for completion in 2027.

Research status
Operating and under refurbishment. ARENA marks the original KIREIP funding project complete as of April 19, 2016, while the island power system continues in service. Hydro Tasmania reported that diesel use had fallen 50% over the decade to 2023, saving 2.1 million liters and 5,700 tCO2 annually; the new solar farm was forecast to save another 300,000 liters and 800 tCO2 per year. The five wind turbines and battery are now being refurbished/replaced through 2027.
Historical classification
Island
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
-39.87535, 143.93708
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 King Island Tasmania Australia Microgrid?

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

Organization

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

Provided $5.95 million toward the $17.69 million KIREIP demonstration and maintains the completion record. [2]

Organization

Contact Electrical

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

Organization

Entura

Hydro Tasmania consulting business that provided electrical/control engineering, smart-grid development, dashboards, and later solar-farm support. [6]

Organization

Hydro Tasmania

Owner/operator, lead developer, generation/distribution service provider, and sponsor of current solar, wind, and battery upgrades. [3][4][5]

Organization

Tasmanian Government

Original KIREIP project partner and public owner of Hydro Tasmania. [2]

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 Solar
390 [1]
KW Wind
2450 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
6000 [1]
Storage
Lead Acid Battery, Flywheel [1]
Original wind fleet
2.45 MW total: three 250 kW turbines installed in 1998 and two 850 kW Vestas V52 turbines installed in 2003 [3][7]
KIREIP-era solar
470 kW published by Hydro/ARENA-era sources; some engineering case material isolates a 95 kW utility array, so 470 kW likely includes multiple island PV installations and should not be conflated with a single array [3][6]
New solar farm
1.5 MW, 5,000 panels, almost six hectares, completed in 2023 at a cost of $3.35 million [5]
KIREIP battery
3 MW/1.5 MWh advanced lead-acid storage in Entura's project account; other sources cite 1.6 MWh usable, reflecting a reporting/usable-energy difference [6][7]
Grid-stability equipment
Two 1 MVA flywheel-based diesel UPS units, 1.5 MW dynamic resistor, sub-second aggregated demand response, smart metering/switches, and advanced hybrid controls [6][7]
Conventional plant and load
6 MW diesel station, approximately 12 GWh annual demand, and 2.5 MW peak demand in Hydro Tasmania's system overview [3]
Renewable performance
KIREIP was designed for 65% annual renewable energy and 100% instantaneous renewable operation. APEC's 2023 review says the system operates diesel-off about 20% of the year and reduced annual diesel use from 4.5 to 2.6 million liters. [2][7]

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

Vestas and original 250 kW turbine supplier not consistently named in current primary sources — Vestas V52 (two 850 kW units)

All five turbines are being repowered using refurbished nacelles and restored foundations, towers, and blades; the work began in September 2024 and is due in 2027. [4][7]

02

Battery energy storage

Model not publicly disclosed

The KIREIP system used an advanced lead-acid battery rated about 3 MW/1.5-1.6 MWh. Hydro Tasmania's 2024 repowering announcement confirms a new battery is included but does not publish its chemistry, supplier, power, or energy rating. [6][4]

03

Diesel-UPS flywheels

Model not publicly disclosed

Two large rotating flywheels provide inertia and bridge sudden renewable shortfalls while diesel engines start only when extended support is required. [8][7]

04

Controls and flexible load

Model not publicly disclosed

Hydro Tasmania's hybrid control system coordinates generation, battery, flywheels, resistor, and demand-side devices fast enough to move autonomously between diesel-on and extended diesel-off operation. [6][2]

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.

  • Storage

    Advanced lead acid battery, flywheel [1]

  • Grid-forming and contingency operation

    Battery and rotating flywheel systems supply frequency/voltage support and fault response when conventional generators are off. The dynamic resistor absorbs sudden excess renewable power, and sub-second demand response helps rebalance the isolated grid. [6][7]

  • Measured outcome

    The original diesel-only system consumed about 4.5 million liters/year. APEC reports roughly 2.6 million liters after KIREIP, while Hydro's 2024 annual report expresses the decade result as 2.1 million liters and 5,700 tCO2 saved annually. These are compatible baselines/rounding, not exact live telemetry. [7][5]

  • Asset evolution

    The 2023 solar farm and 2024-2027 wind/battery work post-date the original KIREIP inventory. Current total solar cannot safely be calculated by simply adding 470 kW and 1.5 MW without confirmation that all earlier arrays remain in service. [5][4]

  • Technology history

    Earlier dual-axis PV and concentrated-solar trials were abandoned, and a 2003 vanadium-redox-flow battery failed and was decommissioned before the advanced lead-acid KIREIP battery. Those superseded technologies should not appear in a current equipment total. [7]

  • Repowering update

    Hydro Tasmania is reusing the five wind-turbine towers, foundations, and blades where possible and installing restored nacelles refurbished in Denmark. The $11.5 million program is intended to extend wind-farm life by at least ten years and includes battery replacement. [4]

Provenance

8 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 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
    King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project

    Australian Renewable Energy Agency · Primary source

  3. [3]
    King Island hybrid energy success story

    Hydro Tasmania · Primary source

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Hydro Tasmania Annual Report 2024

    Hydro Tasmania · Primary source

  6. [6]
  7. [7]
  8. [8]
    Diesel-UPS

    Hydro Tasmania · Primary source

Continue exploring

Related projects in Oceania & Pacific