With more than 40 years’ experience in the renewable energy space, Pacific Energy is expanding its operations to deliver clean energy solutions to Australia’s east coast.
Pacific Energy is a market leader in the provision of sustainable distributed energy in Australia.
Operating since 1981, the company has long been at the forefront of renewable energy projects in Australia’s west, aiming to transition the world to a clean energy future by providing clean energy solutions and helping customers decarbonise.
Remote power solutions
With 49 remote sites and 868 MW under longer term contract in Western Australia alone, Pacific Energy has historically focused on providing off-grid power supply to remote areas.
Supplying clean energy to these communities presents unique challenges, according to Pacific Energy Managing Director – Connected, Mark Sinclair.
As Australia’s only independent power provider with in-country manufacturing, Pacific Energy is uniquely qualified to overcome such challenges and provide safe and reliable power solutions to even the most remote areas.
“We manufacture the technology to be capable of dealing with challenges that are specific to our projects.
“We’ve focused on getting technical solutions right, and that’s been built into our DNA,” Mr Sinclair said.
East coast expansion
As the Australian energy system continues to decarbonise, an opportunity to drive this into different sectors of the market presents itself, Mr Sinclair said.
In May 2024, Pacific Energy established Pacific Energy Connected (PEC) to meet the growing demand for clean energy solutions on Australia’s east coast. PEC will leverage Pacific Energy’s full‑service delivery model to support green hydrogen projects nationally and deliver renewable energy systems to the NEM.
“We’ve got a suite of technologies that were developed in remote areas that are equally applicable to the NEM, a lot of which enable higher penetrations of renewables into the system,” Mr Sinclair said.
“It’s an opportunity to bring all of the skills and learnings that we’ve developed in the west and deploy them in the eastern states.”
For example, Pacific Energy is delivering a new 26MW hybrid power system for Tronox’s Atlas–Campaspe mineral sands mine, comprising of an 11MW solar farm, 3MW/6MWh battery storage, 12MW of diesel generation and 13km of high-voltage powerlines.
Mr Sinclair said the new system will consolidate the 41 diesel generators at the site to only six, reducing emissions by approx. 13,000t and its diesel usage by nearly five million litres per year.
“It’s a great first step on a journey to complete decarbonisation,” Mr Sinclair said.
On the hydrogen side, Mr Sinclair shared that one exciting project Pacific Energy has in the works is a significant expansion of Australia’s first publicly available hydrogen refuelling station, located in Canberra.
“We’re looking at the opportunity to increase the generation of hydrogen in Canberra and provide expanded services to a larger fleet of vehicles including trucks and buses.”
Mr Sinclair said that the crux of the project is determining what a hydrogen ecosystem will actually look like, initially in the Australian Capital Territory.
“We’re pleased to be working with the ACT Government, Toyota and Hyundai on staging the rollout and deployment of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure to meet the needs of an increased fleet of vehicles,” he said.
“Our learnings from the ACT ecosystem will inform the solutions that we’re looking to deliver across other major cities.”
For more information, visit pacificenergy.com.au
