Bob's Report

LMCA president Richard Edmonds was one five LMCA members who inspected some of the projects being conducted at the CSIRO Energy Centre on the Steel River Estate on Wednesday 25 February. Ted Howells, Jo Stojsic, Owen Bailey, and Bob Phillips were also present. Stephen White took us on a tour of the establishment. Here is Richard’s report:

Building Energy Management. We were taken to an office and shown the lighting system which is by natural light supplemented by high-efficiency fluorescent fittings controlled by movement sensors. We also saw the air conditioning system which distributes cooled air from floor vents and out over the top of office walls. The a/c operation can be set to maximum comfort, minimum cost or minimum emissions or a weighted combination of these factors. When ambient conditions allow (approx. 60 days per year) the building is ventilated naturally.

Smart Grid Laboratory. This consisted of a room containing approx 10 small refrigerators. Each one had been fitted with a small chip so that internal temperature and compressor on/off information could be relayed to data processor. It was explained that to maintain temperature all fridges cycle compressor on/off. If load shedding required, intelligent processor can turn off fridges preferentially to minimise temperature impact.

Solar cooling laboratory. The principle of the system is to dehumidify ambient air using rotating desiccant wheels in a moving air stream. This dry air is contacted with warm, moist air which is cooled by evaporation. Solar heat is used to regenerate the desiccant

Solar thermal troughs. This array focuses sunlight on to oil-filled tubes which are heated to ~250oC. The hot oil is used to generate electrical power via a Rankine Cycle system, or used as a coolant via absorption chillers.

Solar thermal tower .This system focuses sunlight from an array of mirrors on to a single point on a tower and produces temperatures of 800-1000oC. Experimental work is ongoing to use this heat to reform natural gas into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, having a higher calorific value.

Wind Turbines. The various turbines around the site were disabled at the time of the visit due to lightning damage. It was explained
that ultra batteries (a hybrid ultra capacitor/lead-acid battery) were being tested to ‘smooth’ the output from individual turbines.