The operator of WA’s largest wind farm aims to build five more across the state, joining multiple companies planning, but not yet building, new wind farms.
The operator of Western Australia’s largest wind farm aims to build five more across the state, joining multiple companies planning, but not yet building, new wind farms.
Collgar Renewables, which is owned by giant superannuation fund REST, said the five new wind farms have a potential production capacity of up to 1.7 gigawatts.
That would be an enormous addition to WA’s existing stock of wind farms and is likely to happen over an extended period of time.
Its market update comes at a time when there are no major wind or solar farms under construction in WA’s South West, despite the big focus on the transition from coal to renewables.
(The next edition of the Business News magazine, out next week, has an in-depth analysis of the renewable energy project pipeline in WA.)
Collgar’s existing wind farm, near Merredin in the Wheatbelt, has 111 turbines with a total capacity of 222 megawatts.
That makes it the largest in the state.
Collgar is expected to focus on the Wheatbelt for some of its new wind farms but is also pursuing opportunities in other regions.
The company has indicated the new wind farms will be located in areas that complement the existing renewable energy capacity in the South West Interconnected System.
Locating wind farms in different regions reduces the risk of a so-called wind drought and ensures more stable supplies into the grid.
In turn, that should reduce the amount that needs to be spent building battery energy storage systems.
The largest cluster of wind farms in WA is in the ‘north country’ zone around Dandaragan.
It is home to Alinta Energy’s Yandin wind farm (214MW), Bright Energy’s Warradarge wind farm (180MW) and APA Group’s Badgingarra (130MW) and Emu Downs (80MW) wind farms.
Speaking to Business News ahead of this week’s Energy in WA conference, chief executive Sam Pearce said Collgar’s development pipeline would support the state government’s renewable energy targets.
He added that Collgar’s market knowledge and experience made it well placed to achieve a streamlined development and approval pathway.
“We also have strong working relationships with community and critical stakeholders in our project areas, and these groups are being consulted as part of our development program,” Mr Pearce said.
Collgar also has the backing of its 100 per cent shareholder REST, which is one of Australia’s largest super funds with 2 million members and $86 billion in funds under management.
Other private sector companies aspiring to develop wind farm projects in the SWIS include Shell and its joint venture partner Foresight, Tilt Renewables, Green Wind Renewables and Wind Prospect.
The state government has also flagged an expansion of Warradarge and construction of Synergy’s King Rocks wind farm but neither has commenced.
The most recent addition to the grid was Enel Green Power’s 75MW Flat Rocks wind farm near Kojonup.
The Water Corporation, which has never built or operated a wind farm, has bought development rights for the adjoining Flat Rocks stage two wind farm.
• See next week’s edition of the Business News magazine to read more on this topic.
