Goldwind backs Australia's first wind technology test lab

SYDNEY - China's largest wind energy company Goldwind have partnered the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia to establish the country's first ever laboratory to test renewable wind technology.

The A$2 million ($1.45 million) in funding is the first stage of a memorandum of understanding signed at the UNSW China Center Inauguration in Shanghai earlier this year, which aims to bolster ongoing research between the two organisations.

"Wind power, along with photovoltaics, is the most important renewable energy for the future," world-leading power systems engineer at UNSW Professor Joe Dong said on Friday.

"Further investment from Goldwind will also fund research projects covering wind power studies, energy internet, wind turbine noise control and water processing technologies."

But while wind is very much an established technology that accounts for 33.8 percent of Australia's renewable supply and 5.7 percent of the country's overall power production, Dong said "there are still some remaining problems to be solved in efficiency, stability and frequency control."

Because Australia's energy grid requires electricity to be delivered at a frequency of exactly 50 Hz, generation can sometimes be disrupted when wind speeds change rapidly.

"Currently, we do not have a facility in Australia to test wind turbines before connecting to the grid and so we must do this in the United States or Europe, which is very expensive -- and the foreign electricity grids don't perfectly mimic the Australian system," Dong explained.

But with the new joint testing facility soon to be set up, it should make life for researchers down under much easier.

"Australia is an important market for wind power generators and this agreement with Goldwind demonstrates their commitment to partnering with internationally-renowned researchers to complement their own capability," UNSW Dean of Engineering Mark Hoffman said.

"I look forward to seeing the fruits of this partnership benefit the renewable energy industry in Australia and boost its long-term reliability for the entire community."