Newcastle startup wins funding to pilot small wind turbines for telecommunications
Diffuse Energy to demonstrate the effectiveness of its innovative micro wind turbine technology for use on off-grid telecommunications towers and broader remote applications
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $341,990 in funding to Diffuse Energy to install its small wind turbines at 10 off-grid telecommunications towers across various locations in Australia.
Telecommunications providers in Australia currently rely heavily on diesel generation to power their off-grid sites. It also leaves them exposed during natural disasters such as bushfires and floods, cutting off vital communications when it is most required. With resilience a major issue for the telecommunications industry, wind turbine technology is seen as a solution to keep these towers operating.
Diffuse Energy developed a novel small wind turbine capable of generating 500W that solves a number of technical issues previously associated with small wind turbines, including low energy efficiency compared to their larger counterparts, maintenance issues, and poor commercial outcomes for the end user.
Small wind turbines are complementary to solar PV and batteries, particularly when solar and batteries are restricted due to space restrictions or lack of sun.
Founded in 2018 out of the University of Newcastle, Diffuse Energy will use the project to further validate their technology for the global telecommunications market which is expected to spend more than US$3.4 billion on distributed energy solutions by 2024.
Diffuse Energy was one of seven teams that participated in ARENA’s A-Lab Incubate in late 2019, successfully using that experience to help develop their project.
