Wind farm now Australia’s biggest producer

THE Golden Plains Wind Farm near Rokewood has just achieved a significant milestone by becoming the highest generating development of its kind in Australia.

The output of 539 megawatts (MW) means the $4 billion project overtakes the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm west of Ballarat, previously the biggest operating wind farm in the country with a capacity of 530 MW.

And that has been achieved before the first of its two stages is even finished. Once both stages are ready, the project will have a total capacity of 1.33 gigawatts.

The wind farm, being developed on 16,739 hectares, is jointly owned by TagEnergy (85 per cent) and IKEA’s parent company Ingka Group (15 per cent).

It is designed to deliver 756 MW in its first stage and 576 MW in the second, which is already being built.

According to TagEnergy, it will be enough to power as many as 400,000 homes.

TagEnergy managing partner for Australia Andrew Riggs said the achievement was significant for both the owners and the renewable energy industry.

“It’s a bit of a celebration for everybody involved,” Mr Riggs said.

“It’s one thing for Tag but it’s a big thing for the industry, to know that big projects can be done – and importantly on time.

“We’ve had a really great performance by all of the contractors on-site; I think each of them have taken some pride in that – to know you’re involved in something that large, you don’t want to see it go off the rails, you want to see it succeed.

“They’ve really put their best foot forward.”

Mr Riggs said the project had also been a boon for local jobs, with workers being drawn from as far as an hour’s travel radius, including Ballarat.

He said about 400 people were currently employed there.

“It’s provided a lot of stable work for people who would otherwise be commuting to the city, perhaps, for that type of work,” he said.

Construction began in November 2022, with stage one scheduled for completion in November of this year.

Just over 110 turbines of the stage one total of 122 have been installed. The final figure will be about 215 turbines when stage two is finished early in 2027.

“When it’s done, the project will supply about nine per cent of Victoria’s electricity,” Mr Riggs said.

“It’s a remarkable amount; it’s globally significant, the scale of it.

“It’s clean and it’s responsible, and it’s subsidy-free – we do this entirely as a private enterprise.

“We receive no government subsidy. We produce it and our customers buy it from us because they want to buy green power.”

Mr Riggs said subsidies provided early in the move to renewables had worked because the technology was now cost-efficient.

“It’s now the most competitive way to make electricity,” he said.

The project website is at goldenplainswindfarm.com.au and it has a Facebook page at facebook.com/GoldenPlainsWindFarm.