WA island resort goes 100% renewables with solar + storage

The Mackerel Islands Tourist Resort in Western Australia coast has gone 100 per cent renewables, with the launch on Monday of a 325kW solar plus storage system – one of the largest off-grid examples in Australia without any fossil fuels.

The system, which was designed and built by local WA company Energy Made Clean, consists of 1,200 solar panels (325kW) and 512 lithium ion batteries (640kWh), and will supply 100 per cent of the power needs of the eco-tourism resort in WA’s northwest Pilbara Coastal region, 22km offshore from the town of Onslow.

The huge battery bank will store the excess power produced by the solar panels during the day and run all of the electrical loads through the evening, night and early morning, via a power management and monitoring system also designed and built by EMC.

“We had a requirement to satisfy a growing need for power as our tourist resort grew in popularity,” said Mackerel Islands CEO Drew Norrish. “We wanted a system that would fit with our eco-tourism values, providing sustainable power well into the future without compromising on guest luxuries such as air conditioning and swimming pools.

“It needed to be cost effective and ecologically sustainable,” he added.

EMC managing director, John Davidson, said the long-term vision shown by Mackerel Islands to cut its dependence on fossil fuels was exemplary.

“Daily we are seeing more and more businesses wanting energy autonomy and this project has given us the opportunity to show case a fully automated and remotely monitored solar power station using WA developed IP,” Davidson said.