Berrybank build begins

Premier turns first sod on wind farm project.

CONSTRUCTION on the first stage of Berrybank Windfarm has officially begun with a ceremony at the site to mark the milestone.

The event was attended by Premier Daniel Andrews, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio, Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle and representatives of Australian Wind Alliance including National Coordinator, Andrew Bray.

Built by Global Power Generation and consisting of 43 turbines at a cost of $276 million, the current stage of project is expected to generate 181 megawatts of electricity, enough for abut 138,000 homes.

“Victoria is the renewable energy capital of our nation and thanks to this investment, we’ve put Western Victoria right at the centre. This is great for jobs and great for our state,” said Mr Andrews.

It is expected that there’ll be 213 jobs and 24 apprenticeships created as part of the first construction stage, with a further 50 positions ongoing after the build phase.

The wind farm will also serve as an education facility by Federation University as part of the Ballarat Renewable Training Centre.

“Wind farms provide a range of long-term job opportunities around an industry that will only grow into the future,” Mr Bray said.

“This training centre applies Ballarat’s long-standing strengths in education and training to the needs of a growing industry.”

Along with the training centre and ongoing maintenance jobs, the turbines themselves will be built in Geelong at the site of the former Ford car factory.

Ms Settle was upbeat about the potential of the project.

“I’m proud to see the Ballarat region helping to lead the way in Victoria’s renewable energy future, with all the local jobs and economic prosperity that flows from it,” she said.

As part of the Berrybank Wind Farm build phase, several grant programs will be made available to communities near the site.

They include annual community development grants for the 25-year life of the project, a one-off grant of $3 million for community projects in the Corangamite and Golden Plains shires, and a program to install solar PV or solar hot water on community buildings and local residential households.

“This impressive range of community schemes will see millions of dollars pumped into urgent local community projects that might otherwise be neglected,” Mr Bray said.

“Local communities are working together with wind farm companies and local councils to determine what needs doing in the local area and getting the work done.”

Initially approved for 99 turbines, the overall number of generation units was scaled back to 79. Of those 41 will be in Golden Plains Shire with the remaining 38 set for Corangamite Shire.

Although the number of turbines was reduced, their size was increased with a tip-height of 180 meters.

Power from Stage one of the Berrybank Wind Farm is expected to make it into the grid by late next year.