Wind farm passes test

THE Stockyard Hill Wind Farm, located about thirty-five kilometres west of Ballarat, has cleared an important hurdle on its journey to full operation.

Know as a “point hold test”, builder Goldwind Australia announced last week that the site had passed its first such trail and was now rated to provide 30 megawatts of electricity into the national grid.

“The project will now proceed with the testing process at several incremental output levels. The process for registration at full capacity is also in progress,” said John Titchen, Goldwind Australia’s managing director.

When it was first marked down by Origin Energy in 2009 the plan was for 242 turbines at the site.

That was scaled back to 157 turbines 2010 and again 149 in 2018 generating 530 megawatts of power.

Spokesperson for the wind farm’s co-owner Nebras Power, Khalid M. Jolo, said the event was reward for effort.

“We are delighted to be witnessing the realisation of our hard work and planning,” he said. “Stockyard Hill is a mammoth project that will be instrumental in providing sustainable energy to residences throughout the region.”

Once complete the Wind Farm is expected to provide 25 ongoing jobs.