An expansion of WA’s renewable energy sector is proceeding after a lull in activity, with contracts awarded for an expansion of one wind farm and construction of a second, new wind farm.
An expansion of WA’s renewable energy sector is proceeding after a lull in activity, with contracts awarded for an expansion of one wind farm and construction of a second, new wind farm.
The King Rocks wind farm will be built in the eastern wheatbelt near Hyden while the Warradarge wind farm in the Mid West is to be expanded.
Danish company Vestas was awarded engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for both projects in the days before Chrismas.
It has already awarded a $47 million sub-contract to Macmahon subsidiary Decmil for civil works at Warradarge, including wind turbine bases and 21km of access tracks.
The state government has committed $513 million toward the King Rocks project, which is being developed by state-owned utility Synergy on private agricultural land.
Warradarge, by contrast, is owned by Bright Energy Investments (BEI), a joint venture between Synergy (19.9 per cent), Cbus Super and CVC DIF, formerly known as Dutch Infrastructure Fund.
The government said it has committed $30 million towards Warradarge’s $400 million expansion, implying it will be largely debt funded.
Vestas plans to instal 30 wind turbines at Warradarge, with a combined capacity of 108MW.
That is on top of the existing capacity of 175MW.
It will instal 17 larger wind turbines at King Rocks, with a capacity of 105MW.
Delivery is expected in mid-2026 with both projects due to start commissioning in Q4 that year.
That is later than originally planned.
Delivery of the Warradarge project had been targeted for mid-2025 while King Rocks was scheduled for the June quarter of 2026.
Synergy chief executive David Fyfe said the go-ahead for King Rocks was “a significant achievement for Synergy and a massive milestone towards WA’s energy transition”.
“This development is Synergy’s first wind farm in more than 15 years, and the first in our pipeline of renewable generation projects,” he said.
The wind farms are additional to Synergy’s three ‘big battery’ energy storage projects in Kwinana and Collie.
Bright Energy general manager Tom Frood said Warradarge will have 81 turbines when the expansion is completed, providing 283 MW of capacity.
“Warradarge wind farm started operating in 2020 and is considered a world-class large-scale renewable energy project,” Mr Frood said.
“The Mid West offers abundant wind resources and the expansion will allow for even more sustainable energy to be harnessed for use in the South West Interconnected System.”
The new turbines will have a hub height of 84 metres, a tip height of 152 metres and blades 67 metres long.
The awarding of construction contracts for Warradarge comes shortly after reports that Potentia Energy (formerly known as Enel Green Power, and jointly owned by Italy’s Enel Group and Japan’s Inpex), has secured exclusive rights to buy Cbus and DIF out of Bright Energy.
If that deal is finalised, it would mark a big expansion of Potentia’s renewables portfolio in WA.
Bright Energy also owns the Grasmere wind farm near Albany and the Greenough River solar farm just south of Geraldton while Potentia completed construction of the Flat Rocks Stage 1 wind farm, just south of Kojonup, early last year.
WA will need multiple new wind farms in the South West in coming years to ensure secure energy supplies after the state-owned coal power stations are closed in 2030.
Several groups including Collgar Renewables, Neoen, Green Wind Renewables and Tilt Renewables are pursuing plans for new wind farms but there has been a conspicuous lack of actual investment over the past year.
Energy Minister Reece Whitby said the state government's vision for WA's energy future was clear.
"We want households and businesses to access clean, reliable, and affordable energy, which can be provided by a mix of rooftop solar and onshore wind, backed by large-scale battery storage, and firmed by gas as required,” he said.
"King Rocks wind farm will be an important part of our State's future energy mix.
"With the awarding of this contract, Western Australians can rest assured knowing the future of our State's energy system is secure."
