Technical Tours

A choice of two full-day technical tours will be offered, each at a cost of AU$110 (inc GST). Each tour will include visits to two or three sites relating to specific areas of renewable energy infrastructure and research. Each tour will be guided by experts and give participants a unique opportunity to experience the practice of technology and research in Western Australia.

Tour 1

A full day tour to the Kwinana Industrial Area (KIA) south of Perth will be led by Mr Chris Oughton, Director of Kwinana Industries Council who was invited by the IPCC to COP26 in Glasgow to talk about the unique work in progress and future development for the region.

KIC is world famous for its achievements in industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis. The tour will include a coach tour of the complete KIA region accompanied by Chris Oughton’s technical knowledge and expertise. This will include the two new waste-to-energy plants currently under construction, two lithium processing plants also currently under construction as well as existing power stations. An overview of  future geothermal power station and the considerable expansion of the port facilities will be explained along with the future green hydrogen production plants and other significant industrial sites integrated within KIA. We will visit the AMC Jakovitch Function Centre for essential presentations on the KIA and its current carbon emission reduction and carbon neutral strategy. 

Afternoon tea will be provided by the KIC and we will go to the Rockingham seafront for a seaside lunch.

Tour 2

The full day tour will start with a closeup visit to the Yandin Windfarm on the west coast north of Perth comprising of 51 Vestas 4.2MW turbines. 180m high and the largest in the Western Australia. You will be able to access the tower of one and be given a technical tour of substation and control unit for Western Power grid connection.

The tour will then visit the Badgingarra 19.5MW solar farm whilst en route to the impressive facilities of The Lobster Shack in Cervantes. This will include a technical tour around the factory premises of this Indian Ocean Lobster processing plant to see its PV/diesel/battery micro-grid system.  The system was provided by Sungrow-Samsung SDI and consists of 350kWp of PV and a 500kW/755kWh grid-connect battery. The system is used behind-the-meter on the user side, reducing the cost of the diesel power generation, green cleaning and bill saving.

The tour will end with an early evening visit to the unique spectacle of the Pinnacles Desert Nambung National Park only minutes away from the Lobster Shack.