Construction & Deployment
of Hybrid Microgrids

We build and install hybrid renewable energy projects using solar, wind, battery storage, and advanced control systems.

We believe all systems should be scalable and modular, and support the growth of future projects in remote areas.

We can provide staged integrations of high-penetration renewables into existing diesel networks, and automatic switching between renewables, storage or existing diesel genset assets.

Operation & Maintenance
of Renewable Infrastructure

We can provide operation and maintenance capabilities for renewable energy projects, microgrids, and other power infrastructure.

Services include complete operational control of the network, day-to-day power service and plant operation, and power services for critical assets.

We can provide regular maintenance and inspection capabilities and can respond to unscheduled maintenance and network faults on-site or remotely.

Island, Remote Area &
Offgrid Location Logistics

We are used to dealing with island shipping and remote area logistics, and we can train or work with local labor teams for local economic development.

We have practical experience dealing with projects in highly corrosive island and marine environments, as well as projects in tropical cyclone areas including Australian wind regions B & C.

Support services include remote monitoring, on island support, and technicians who can fly out for critical service issues.

 

David Ellis

David brings utility-scale experience in the operation and management of remote area microgrids and power services.

As manager of the Indian Ocean Territories Power Service from 2013-2016, he was responsible for all power generation and distribution services in the Australian territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

David's experience includes complete power service delivery, operations and management, as well as liaison with the private sector and federal, state, and local governments for the delivery of critical power infrastructure in remote island communities.

David has seven years of technical experience as an electrical supervisor and electrician for the IOTPS from 2010 to 2016, and has qualifications in electrical engineering, instrumentation, and business management.

David brings experience working in remote and offgrid communities, including experience across multiple active renewable projects in Indonesia, working on technical design, engineering, and project delivery for ecoresorts, telecom, and commercial renewable sectors. 

David Ellis leads Island Power Co’s system design, engineering, and project operations and management.

David McKinney

David has a track record of founding and delivering successful technology companies and products across multiple industry sectors, working in all aspects of design, engineering, business development, and management of technology companies.

David was previously founder and CEO of an Australian software application startup that developed multiple high profile apps in the App Store, achieving millions of sales and millions of users across the globe.

As a software designer and engineer, David has achieved multiple number one apps in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and across Europe. David has developed, licensed and sold intellectual property, had his work featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and been featured extensively by Apple worldwide.

In addition to Island Power Co, David leads the software team at Solar Suite Pty Ltd, an Australian solar company specialising in design, engineering, procurement, and support services for solar installers in Australia. Prior to working in software, David was a marine scientist for the Australian Government, where he worked as a marine ecologist on the response of coral reef ecosystems to climate change.

David McKinney leads Island Power Co’s commercial and company management.

Photovoltaic Solar

Battery Storage

Wind

Development of detailed software models for the Home Island Power Station, West Island Power Station, and Christmas Island Power Station including model representations and simulations of all diesel power assets and station operation.

We developed technical models to represent installed diesel assets at each station, including multiple diesel gensets and configurations, N+1 operating rules, spinning reserve, and load following and load sharing behaviour.

These models are accurate software models of the power stations in the Indian Ocean Territories and are used to simulate and forecast diesel operation and renewables integration into the local power network at each island.

Design and modelling of megawatt-scale hybrid renewable system topologies for West Island, Home Island, and Christmas Island, including photovoltaic solar, battery storage, wind turbines, advanced control systems, and diesel asset integration.

We used HOMER, PVSyst, Helioscope, Meteonorm, and our own custom software models to develop system topologies based on least cost optimisation for solar, storage, gensets, and control systems at each island, across a range of economic sensitivity analyses.

Design models include calculation of the levelised cost of electricity at each station, with simulations optimised for lowest capital cost, LCOE, and NPV. Designs target spinning reserve requirements, low genset runtimes, carbon emission reductions, diesel fuel savings, and O&M cost savings.

DESIGN, ENGINEERING, PROCUREMENT
& CONSTRUCTION

Design and engineering for solar and battery storage systems including 50 kW, 150 kW, 200 kW, 550 kW, 1.3 MW, and 6 MW systems at Cocos and Christmas Island. Designs support smoothing, grid protection, export control, diesel integration, advanced control, and remote access & monitoring.

We have installed and commissioned solar, battery, and diesel genset systems in the IOT and Indonesia, with projects up to
550 kW / 660 kWh in current development including grid connected, standalone power, and hybrid renewable systems in offgrid and weak-grid areas.

Other work includes design for mining, immigration, environment, airports, and ecotourism facilities in the IOT, and 700 kVA diesel genset commissioning for emergency backup power supply.

FINANCIAL MODELLING &
PROJECT FINANCE ANALYSIS

Development of project finance yield and financial models for utility-scale renewable energy systems at Home Island, West Island, and Christmas Island. We developed financial models for each island including construction, operation, and delay periods; system performance estimates; senior debt sources, committed and contingent equity; sculpted and annuity debt models; debt service reserve and maintenance reserve accounts, and p50, p90, and p99 exceedance probability yield estimates.

Models include 25 year project lifetime financial statements (cash flow, profit & loss, balance sheets); operating cashflows, cash flow available for debt service (CFADS); LCOE and PPA pricing; tax and depreciation, geared & ungeared analyses, pre-tax & post-tax analyses; scenario and sensitivity analyses; and project and equity returns & metrics (NPV, IRR, LLCR, PLCR, DSCR, EBIDTA, NPAT).

BUSINESS CASE ANALYSIS, FEASIBILITY
STUDIES, AND DUE DILIGENCE

Development of feasibility studies, detailed business case analyses, and due diligence and assessment of major partners for large scale solar project in the remote communities.

We developed a series of detailed business cases, energy roadmaps, and risk management plans for a range of scenarios in the IOT. Our work includes analysis of IPP, PPA, and O&M models; community solar and shared storage; distributed energy resource models including community solar and virtual power plants; utility-side energy storage.

We also run an ongoing process to assess major partners for large scale renewable projects in remote communities. This process includes detailed assessment and due diligence on each firm’s experience, capability, capacity, and proposed solutions to deliver the greatest value for money to the all stakeholders.

CONTROL SYSTEMS, SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT & MONITORING

Installation and commissioning of advanced power station control systems including programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Human Machine Interface (HMI), engine governing, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

Installed and commissioned advanced control systems at the Home Island Power Station including PLC / HMI / SCADA for automated genset switching, load sharing, and load following as well as diesel governor and control system upgrades at the Christmas Island Power Station.

We provide ongoing remote access and monitoring of grid-connected and offgrid renewable systems at Cocos and Christmas over satellite NBN, and developed custom software (RESTful JSON API calls) for remote monitoring and fault alarms for a offgrid solar, battery and inverter system over satellite NBN at Christmas Island.