ACES investigates wind farm technology

ACES was blown away by a recent visit to Hepburn Wind (HW) farm in central Victoria.

Facilitated by ACES’ Ethics, Policy and Public Engagement group, battery researchers from ACES’ Deakin University node and a solar group from ACES’ Monash University node ventured to Leonards Hill to learn about Australia’s first community established and owned wind farm and possible collaborations.

ACES is interested in forming a partnership with HW to investigate energy storage solutions such as prototype batteries and solar devices.

Monash University’s Professor Douglas MacFarlane said the field trip was enlightening and a partnership with the farm would be of tremendous value.

“The vision of the solar group is the generation of liquid fuels using solar energy as part of the energy input; the balance (depending on time of day, etc) can come from wind energy to even out the intermittency of solar. Understanding and working with a wind energy producer provides us with valuable insight into the operation of that industry,” he said.