Huon Aquaculture Marine Farms
Our solution for this project needed to meet some key requirements, such as having minimal environmental and noise impact and needing to be protected from seawater.
Project Details
| Site Owner | Huon Aquaculture |
| Commission Date | 2017 |
| Fuel Source | LNG |
| Facility | Marine Farms |
| Location | Macquarie Harbour, TAS |
| System Application | Power Only (Diesel genset removal) |
Description
Aquaculture isn’t the first thing that comes to most people’s mind when thinking of use cases for our microturbines. But that is exactly the type of project that we engaged in 2017, in collaboration with BOC for Huon Aquaculture who were exploring solutions to provide stand-alone power to their salmon fishing pods on the water of Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania. The power system needed to meet a number of key requirements.
Firstly, there were environmental considerations. One of the goals was to mitigate the likelihood of the power generation exposing Macquarie Harbour marine environment to diesel, coolants, or oil. Another target was for the solution to be low noise, as any sound would reverberate off the water and into the surrounding valley. It was also preferable that the power was highly available, and that the machinery was low maintenance.
Along with BOC, we designed and delivered a natural gas fuelled 65kW microturbine, which was specially housed for marine environments. To achieve this house, we installed the microturbine in a 10-foot container that features a custom-designed vane pack (or air inlet), to eliminate any seawater coming in. This was supported by an exhaust which had a custom-made silencer to reduce sound to less than 50dBA. The container was made for rapid connection of power, communications, and fuel delivery.
As well as designing and delivering the system, we also provided remote monitoring for a six-month period. The reliability test ran the turbine continuously for six months and met all performance KPIs, showcasing the success of the project.