UNSW's Wellington Property
Has Huge Renewable Energy Potential
Darcy Wentworth
Visiting Fellow, School of Photovoltaics
and Renewable Energy Engineering
25 May 2009
UNSW owns a property at Wellington that is particularly suitable for renewable energy (RE) installations.
For Students: If you are interested in working on a substantial wind or PV water pumping installation with community involvement and linkage to other research on the property then there are opportunities here that Kensington campus can’t match. There are prospects for smaller projects in other RE disciplines.
For Staff: If your students are interested in a more practical project or thesis, please have them investigate the property’s potential to meet their requirements.
The property covers ~400ha on the edge of town, it has 2km frontage to the Macquarie River, and includes level ground and hills. There is grid power connected, and the property also has a small bunkhouse with kitchen and washroom for simple accommodation. There are good camping sites along the river. There is a caretaker who live in Wellington and runs some stock on the block, so he visits every day. Wellington High School agriculture students have grown irrigated crops on the river flats. The town waste recycling station is on one side of the property.
Wellington is a six hour drive from Sydney, it is on a main railway line, and 50 minutes from Dubbo Airport. All the usual services are available in Wellington. The Macquarie is a permanent river, fed from Burrendong Dam ~20km upstream, but has significant rise and fall. The river valley was previously dredged for gold.
The property is a long term holding, and is managed by UNSW Facilities Management in conjunction with the University’s FATE (Future of Australia’s Threatened Ecosystems) group who have a small team based on Kensington campus. FATE is carrying out an extensive tree planting and landcare program, and student groups travel to Wellington to spend weekends carrying out the work. Peter Ampt and Sue Stevens are the FATE managers, and Cameron Little from Facilities Management (FM) also oversees work on the block. FM and FATE are both keen to see renewable energy used on the property, particularly for demonstration and educational projects. UNSW work on the property has strong local support from Council members and the community. There is an Aboriginal community living in well-appointed houses on the upstream boundary of the block, which may open up interesting possibilities for combining with them to promote RE. Ron Blackhall the caretaker is part aboriginal, he knows the area well and has very good contacts. I have had a good look around the block with Ron.
The property is one of three being used for groundwater research in a multi-million dollar project, and again there are prospects for coordinating RE water pumping with them, although I have not yet contacted the groundwater group.
The property is particularly well suited to medium scale installations for wind turbines and PV pumping. For wind, there is a clear ridge with access to high voltage lines that run across one end of the block. There are also a number of grid-connected low voltage lines in various locations. There are numerous sites along the river suitable for PV water pumping, either grid-connected or stand-alone.
There is plenty of space for demonstration scale projects in micro-hydro, solar thermal, biofuels, and even for electric vehicles.
Have a look at the attached photos. See if the Wellington property can meet your requirements for renewable energy work. Contact me for further information, (darcyhwe@bigpond.com).
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River flats and main ridge. The flats are suitable for irrigated crops, the ridge for wind turbines. |
Calm pool on Macquarie River. Plenty of water for PV pumping. |
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| Students at Macquarie River. Flowing section of river suitable for micro-hydro. | River flowing to pool at end of rapids. |
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Aboriginal village near boundary. Potential for renewable energy cooperation. |
Shed and powerline near Macquarie River. PV access to grid. |
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| Town water to aboriginal village crosses UNSW property, grid access. | Shed and stockyards leading to main ridge, grid access for PV. |
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| Powerline, pump and tank tank on hillside above stockyards leading to main ridge. | Electric pump at hillside tank. Grid access. |
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| Tank on main ridge and disused second tank. Part of stock watering system. | View from main ridge across Bell River valley. |
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| Two high voltage powerlines on UNSW property. Large wind turbines may be able to feed in power. One line leads into the Wellington town substation. | Wellington town substation, Macquarie River valley, next to UNSW property. |
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| Bunkrooms for visiting personnel. Grid access, potential for PV and solar hot water. | Student tents, shearing shed, bunkrooms. |
