Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind has granted funding to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney for Australia’s first wind power test lab.
The new laboratory is reportedly the first stage of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which was signed at the UNSW China Centre Inauguration in Shanghai earlier this year.
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The funding of A$2m ($1.4) was secured by UNSW Sydney researcher professor Joe Dong and will also support the ongoing research between UNSW Engineering and Goldwind.
Dong said: “Wind power, along with photovoltaics, is the most important renewable energy for the future. This memorandum of understanding includes building the joint test facility at UNSW, which will be the first of its kind in Australia.
“Further investment from Goldwind will fund research projects covering wind power studies, energy internet, wind turbine noise control and water processing technologies.
“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 US or Europe, which is very expensive – and the foreign electricity grids don’t perfectly mimic the Australian system.”
The test lab is expected to help in solving issues with wind power generation.
UNSW Dean of Engineering Mark Hoffman said: “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.
“In 2017, wind farms produced 33.8% of Australia’s clean energy and supplied 5.7% of overall electricity during the year. 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.”
