A unique renewable energy project using water, gravity, and solar power has been completed in WA's south, promising to end power outages for a small country town. But the government-backed project sits in limbo, waiting for Western Power to complete the commissioning and connect it to the grid.
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00:00On a farm near Walpole on the state's south coast, a world-first micro-pumped hydro scheme
00:09developed by energy engineer Colin Stonehouse, it's designed to end Walpole's decades-long
00:16power outage problems.
00:18The town left disconnected from the grid for up to 72 hours at a time.
00:23So we'll pump water from the bottom dam to the top dam when we want to store the water
00:30and then we use the water from the top dam and when we're generating the water will come
00:35through this pipe and then it goes to the turbine which spins and then drives the generator
00:39over here.
00:40The solar and hydro-powered energy system aiming to keep the lights on year-round.
00:46And it shows what is happening in the area quite regularly.
00:50There's been a short circuit and the voltage has dipped.
00:53When that sort of thing happens we can take up the supply to the town and keep the power
00:57supply running.
00:58Seven years in the making, the $8 million project received state government support
01:04through the Clean Energy Future Fund.
01:06Now the earthworks, the pipeline connecting the two dams and the electrical generation
01:11systems are finished.
01:13Western Power has to complete the commissioning.
01:16We have a lot of interest from the community about our progress and how close we are to
01:20completion.
01:21We're now finished all of the construction works and preparations ready to connect to
01:25the grid.
01:26The process from here on in really is in Western Power's hands.
01:30But that final approval process appears to be in limbo as the developer waits for the
01:36utility to complete its work.
01:39Continuity of power.
01:40There's lots of people who've chosen to live in Walpole because of a safe, quiet environment
01:44but it's not much good if they can't do their daily job.
01:48In a statement, Western Power didn't provide a completion date, saying it continues to
01:53work with the developer to ensure key requirements are met before it can begin the commissioning
02:00process.