Wind farm development energised, Grylls
Author: Brendon Grylls
Published on: 09-June-2011
Energy Minister Peter Collier and Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls have celebrated a significant milestone in the development of the biggest wind farm operation in Western Australia.
Visiting Merredin today, the Ministers attended an ‘energising’ event to celebrate the first energy production from the Collgar wind farm.
Once fully developed, the $750million development will comprise 111 wind turbines on 18,000 hectares of land, boasting a generation capacity of 206 megawatts and providing enough electricity to power about 125,000 WA homes.
“Last year, the State Government approved Synergy entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement, with a value of about $1.5billion, underpinning the development,” Mr Collier said.
“When fully operational, the wind farm will increase the total renewable energy generation in the South West Interconnected System from five per cent to almost nine per cent.
“This development reaffirms the Liberal-National Government’s commitment to delivering a cleaner energy future for WA.
“Its completion also represents a major step towards WA achieving its share of the national renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020.”
Mr Grylls said the renewable energy project provided many benefits to the Wheatbelt region and the State as a whole.
“About 150 jobs were created during the building phase, with ongoing positions for up to 20 people after the project is completed,” he said.
“This project has shown the potential of the Wheatbelt region to support a diverse range of economic development opportunities.”
