KIREIP has enhanced the value of existing renewable energy generation on King Island, by switching all diesel generators off during periods where there is plenty of renewable generation.
When renewable energy generation solely meets the customer demand, it results in what is called 100% renewable energy penetration. This was first achieved in 2013 and is a world first for an off-grid system of this size.
Each D-UPS unit contains a large mass flywheel, which uses excess wind energy rather than diesel power to maintain its motion. Its diesel engine operates only rarely when the unit is required to provide power for an extended period, otherwise the mass of the flywheel carries sufficient energy to cover the gap in power generation.
Without the D-UPS, if the wind generation were to reduce quickly the primary diesel generators would not be able to be switched back on fast enough – resulting in a gap in power generation and a blackout.
With the additional power quality the D-UPS brings there has also been significantly less outages in the power system in general showing high renewables and system stability can happily coexist.