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Nullagine Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations6
System facts21
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Nullagine is the smaller, electrically separate town system in Horizon Power's two-town Marble Bar and Nullagine solar-diesel program; it is about 88 km from Marble Bar and is not connected to it. The original Nullagine plant combined 203 kW of tracked photovoltaic generation, three 320 kW diesel units, a 500 kW/16.5 MW-s flywheel and ABB Microgrid Plus controls. It was integrated in October 2010. Contemporary reporting put solar at roughly 30-40% of annual energy, while daylight or instantaneous shares were much higher. The legacy catalog's 300 kW solar and 1.28 MW diesel values are Marble Bar's ratings, not Nullagine's, and the catalog's 18,000 kW flywheel value is a unit/transcription error.

Research status
Nullagine remains an active Horizon Power service area, but the utility's 2024-25 annual report lists it among non-performing systems affected by generation outages and network issues; town-specific SAIDI/SAIFI is not published there. No current source found establishes whether the 2010 flywheel is still available or gives a recent solar share. A separate long-duration storage trial began in 2023. ARENA initially announced a Redflow 100 kW/400 kWh zinc-bromine battery for Nullagine, but Horizon Power later selected and procured EnerVenue nickel-hydrogen technology. The trial runs to 2028; neither commissioning nor the replacement battery's power/energy rating was publicly confirmed through July 2026. Treat the Redflow rating as a superseded plan, not installed equipment.
Historical classification
Island
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
-21.88605, 120.10863
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 Nullagine Microgrid?

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

Organization

ABB

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

Organization

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

Published the original case study and is funding the current remote-microgrid long-duration storage trial. [2][7][5]

Organization

EnerVenue

Replacement technology partner selected for the Nullagine long-duration nickel-hydrogen battery trial after the originally announced Redflow scope changed. [6][7]

Organization

Horizon Power

Owner/operator of the isolated Nullagine electricity system and lead utility for both the original solar-diesel project and current long-duration storage trial. [2][3][6]

Organization

Powercorp / ABB

Supplied the original flywheel-based PowerStore storage and Microgrid Plus control system; Powercorp was acquired by ABB. [4][2]

Organization

SunPower Australia

Solar supplier/contractor and initial operator of the tracked photovoltaic facility under the original project. [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
300 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
1280 [1]
Storage
18000 kW Flywheel [1]
Original photovoltaic capacity
203 kW from 900 tracked panels. This is Nullagine's rating; the 300-302 kW figure belongs to Marble Bar. [2][3]
Original diesel generation
960 kW total, arranged as 3 x 320 kW generators. The 1.28 MW total belongs to Marble Bar. [2][4]
Original flywheel storage
500 kW and 16.5 MW-s, equivalent to about 4.58 kWh of stored energy if the source's MW-s unit is converted. The published source reports power and MW-s, not an 18 MW device. [4]
Town demand at original study date
Approximately 0.4 MW peak load. [2]
Original renewable contribution
The ARENA case study reports solar providing about 30-40% of annual energy. Horizon Power's later educational page says the Marble Bar and Nullagine stations can supply 87% of daytime electricity; these are different denominators and should not be merged. [2][3]
Superseded LDES scope
100 kW/400 kWh Redflow zinc-bromine battery announced in 2024 for Nullagine. Horizon subsequently changed technology partner; this rating is not evidence of an installed asset. [5][6]
Current LDES scope
EnerVenue nickel-hydrogen battery selected and procured; public sources reviewed do not give the replacement power or energy rating. The broader ARENA project targets long-duration storage greater than eight hours and is scheduled through April 2028. [6][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

Photovoltaic array

SunPower

900 single-axis tracked panels totaling 203 kW in the original 2010 installation. [2][3]

02

Flywheel energy storage

ABB / Powercorp — PowerStore

500 kW, 16.5 MW-s flywheel used for fast balancing so solar could displace diesel at high instantaneous penetration. Current availability was not established. [4]

03

Microgrid control system

ABB / Powercorp — Microgrid Plus

Coordinated tracked solar, diesel units and PowerStore flywheel in the original system. [4]

04

Long-duration battery

EnerVenue

Nickel-hydrogen technology selected and procured for the current trial. Model, power, energy, inverter and commissioning date were not disclosed in the sources reviewed. [6][7]

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.

  • Generation

    PV, diesel, storage [1]

  • Identity and topology

    Nullagine and Marble Bar were delivered as one program but are separate isolated town power systems approximately 88 km apart. Capacities must be assigned by town rather than treated as one connected microgrid. [2]

  • Timeline and cost

    Nullagine's renewable system was integrated in October 2010. The two-town Marble Bar/Nullagine program cost about A$14 million and received a shared A$4.9 million Australian Government grant; those portfolio values cannot be allocated wholly to Nullagine. [2]

  • Performance

    The original case study reports average interruption duration improving from 110 minutes in 2009-10 to zero in 2010-11. ABB's presentation estimates roughly 400,000 litres of annual diesel displacement and 1,100 tonnes of CO2 reduction, and describes about 60% daytime renewable penetration. These are historical vendor/case-study figures, not current audited results. [2][4]

  • Storage evolution

    The 2010 flywheel was short-duration balancing equipment. The later ARENA/Horizon project is a distinct long-duration trial intended to test storage exceeding eight hours and DERMS coordination. A 2024 Redflow plan was replaced by EnerVenue nickel-hydrogen technology, so neither project phase should be conflated with the other. [4][5][6][7]

  • Current reliability

    Horizon Power's 2024-25 annual report includes Nullagine among its non-performing systems and says generation outages and network problems—including weather and wildlife impacts across the listed systems—affected reliability. It does not isolate a Nullagine-specific cause or publish town-level metrics in that passage. [6]

  • Evidence gap

    No public source found through July 2026 gives current Nullagine generation by fuel, present diesel fleet condition, flywheel availability, solar output, or commissioning/performance results for the EnerVenue battery. [6][7]

Provenance

7 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]
    Renewable Energy in the Australian Mining Sector - Case Study Appendix

    Australian Renewable Energy Agency / AECOM · Primary source

  3. [3]
    Renewable energy

    Horizon Power · Primary source

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    New battery technologies tested at regional WA microgrids

    Australian Renewable Energy Agency · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Horizon Power Annual Report 2024-25

    Horizon Power · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Long Duration Energy Storage Trials in Remote Microgrids

    Australian Renewable Energy Agency · Primary source

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