Paronella Park sustainability

Hydro-electric system reconstruction

Paronella Park, Queensland, will soon achieve energy sustainability thanks to a much-needed upgrade to its original hydro-electric system. The old system had worn out decades ago but the refurbishment of the disused unit had been a challenge that the owners, Mark and Judy Evans, could not overcome despite many attempts over many years.

Acting on a recommendation from an energy retail company, the owners approached Michael Fullelove from Local Buy for his assistance. Local Buy is a Queensland company providing sustainable procurement and energy management services to local governments throughout Australia.

The benefits and challenges of refurbishing the hydro unit at Paronella Park were obvious to Michael. He arranged for Tilman Heidemann, from German renewable energy company Heidemann Wasserkraftanlagen, to personally make a detailed site inspection.

After realising the historical significance of the park, Tilman offered to refurbish the unit by rebuilding as many of the original turbine parts as practically possible so that the linkage to Queensland's past was maintained. The old deteriorated unit was dismantled and shipped back to Tilman's workshops in Burladingen, Germany, for the specialist refurbishment works which have now been completed. The old generator no longer complied with current electricity standards and had to be replaced by a unit using the latest technology.

The old unit only supplied electricity to the park but the average power output of the reconstructed unit will exceed the average electricity usage of the park and negotiations are underway with the local electricity distribution company for a network connection agreement to feed the excess back into the state electricity grid. The goal posts for completion of this project are in sight with the installation of the turbine, new generator and headrace already completed during June and July 2009 and the remainder of the work scheduled for later in 2009 when the seasonal flows in Mena Creek drop.