DevelopmentWA has appointed a consortium led by Enwave Australia to develop one of Australia’s first renewable energy microgrids to power an dustrial estate, at the Peel Business Park in Nambeelup.
The microgrid will use a 1MW solar farm and 2MWh battery storage with electricity supplemented from the Western Power grid when required, to power DevelopmentWA’s 120ha lot within the park.
The microgrid is an innovative solution to the high costs of extending the mains grid into the estate, and will speed up the development of industrial land and development opportunities for the Business Park delivering much needed jobs to the region.
The microgrid will make it possible for 1862 jobs to be created in DevelopmentWA’s first 120ha lot, with a further 2,000 local jobs once the park is fully built out.
The Peel Business Park has the potential to inject around $1 billion into the State’s economy each year.
In addition, the microgrid will offer businesses looking to relocate into the park cost savings of around 30% versus regulated bundled electricity tariffs.
To meet the increasing power needs of the Peel Business Park as it grows, the operator can lease roof space from businesses to install a network of solar panels that will feed additional energy into the microgrid.
The microgrid is scalable and is expected to extend beyond DevelopmentWA’s current landholding within the Peel Business Park with potential uptake from interested neighbouring landowners.
The microgrid is being developed, owned and operated by a consortium comprising Enwave Australia, a leader in the ownership and operation of precinct energy solutions, Western Australian renewables specialist Sunrise Energy Group, and Synergy.
The Peel Business Park is a core element of the Transform Peel initiative supported by the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program. Transform Peel continues to deliver major economic opportunities and jobs for the Peel region. Peel based Wormall Civil have now started the $13 million subdivision works for Stage 1 of the Business Park having completed the initial bulk earthworks.
DevelopmentWA’s Peel Business Park is a flagship development of the Industrial Lands Authority (ILA). The ILA is facilitating innovative development of the first stage of industrial lots for the Peel Business Park in Nambeelup, bringing together government agencies responsible for infrastructure, planning, development and job opportunities to make it easier to access and develop industrial land in WA.
MORE INFORMATION
To register your interest in future Stage 2 lots, please contact Phil Melville on 0488 203 088 or Jarrad Grierson on 0413 242 240 from CBRE to discuss your requirements.
This article was first published in the Peel Magazine, Spring/Summer – vol 5.2 – to read and download the full magazine, click here.