New Zealand-based power firm Trustpower has announced completion of stage 2 and final development at the $659m Snowtown Wind Farm in South Australia.
Initiated in 2012, construction of stage 2 at the facility involved an investment of $439m.
With an installed capacity of 270MW, the stage 2 development is expected to produce an additional annual power of up to 989GWh.
Built as an addition to the original stage 1 development at the farm, the stage 2 features 90 of Siemens’ direct drive 3.0MW turbines.
The Snowtown wind farm is spread over 32km area, across the Hummocks and Barunga ranges in South Australia’s Mid-North region, 150km north of Adelaide at an elevation of 300m-430m above sea level.
Stage 1 of the wind farm has been operational since 2008. It is equipped with 47 Suzlon 2.1 MW turbines and produces 345GWh annually, enough to power 50,000 average South Australian households. Development of the first stage involved investment of $220m.
The combined capacity of the wind farm through both stage 1 and 2 equals 10% of the state’s entire power consumption at present, enough for 230,000 South Australian homes.
Both stages, however, operate independently of each other through separate communication systems, reticulation networks, substations and associated infrastructure, which is expected to reduce the network operational risks at the facility.
Trustpower chief executive Vince Hawksworth said: “The completion of this project makes Snowtown the home of South Australia’s largest, and Australia’ second largest, wind farm.
“This project is another great step in the transformation to a sustainable electricity generation environment and Trustpower is proud to be investing in that.”
South Australia aims to turn renewable energy as major power source. It intends to generate 50% of the state’s annual power requirement from reneweable sources by 2025.
Siemens CEO Jeff Connolly said: “Snowtown II demonstrates what can be achieved when combining German technology with South Australian know-how and New Zealand investment.”
