Wind Farms

Wind Farms | Benefits | Constraints | Environmental and Social Issues | Resource Assessment and System Design | Project Summaries | Current & Proposed Installations in Australia | Costs and Performance | Further Information | References |

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Wind Farms

Over the past few years there has been an unprecedented expansion in the renewable component of electricity grids by wind turbines. This is due to many factors including maturing turbine and grid connect technologies, falling costs of production, and an increase in awareness about the issue of increasing greenhouse gas emissions from existing electricity generating technologies such as coal. See Figure 1 for the increase in installed capacity from 2000 to mid 2005.

 

Benefits

Wind power is a renewable resource, which means using it will not deplete the earth's supply of fossil fuels. It also is a clean energy source, and does not directly produce carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulates, or any other type of air pollution, as do conventional fossil fuel power sources. Indirectly, carbon dioxide and other types of air pollution are released when materials for construction are mined and processed, but that holds true for every other power plant type. Unlike nuclear power, wind power does not produce any radioactive waste. If a comparison is made on production costs, wind energy is extremely competitive in many cases relative to conventional technologies. If the full costs (environmental, health, etc.) are taken into account, wind energy is even more competitive. Furthermore, wind energy costs are continuously decreasing due to technology development and scale enlargement, assisting the expansion of clean renewable sources into our energy mix (Wikipedia, 2006).

 

Constraints

Wind farms, without sufficient storage technologies may not be able to replace base-load electricity supply technologies. Due to the nature of the variable wind resource the output of wind turbines cannot be predicted to a precise output at a certain time. Wind power also does not increase production as demand increases and stop producing power at night when the majority of electricity users significantly reduce their consumption. Storage solutions need to be used on a wide scale and these technologies add expense and can lower the efficiency of the system. However it has been shown that by spreading wind farms over very wide areas, it is unlikely that all areas suffer low wind conditions at any one time. This does however pose issues of duplicating infrastructure that may have low capacity factors, which is not the ideal situation for any generating technology. The integration of wind farm to electricity grids generally requires upgrading existing equipment, depending on the extent that wind penetrates the system, i.e. how much of the generation capacity in a particular part of the grid is derived from wind farms. This increases costs and has been known to cause issues with companies and governments that own the transmission infrastructure.

 

Environmental and Social Impacts

This section is derived from Wikipedia and at the time of writing it provides a very balanced and comprehensive introduction to many issues surrounding wind farms, wind turbines and wind power.

Some question whether wind turbines are a significant danger to passing birds. One large wind farm in California's Altamont Pass has been shown to kill 300 red-tailed hawks and 60 golden eagles a year. However, the pass is an area with very high year-round raptor use, and the raptor mortality rate there is far higher than at other wind farms. In the UK, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has studied this issue and concluded that "The available evidence suggests that appropriately positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds" (see RSPB statement on wind farms). It notes that climate change poses a much more significant threat to wildlife, and that therefore the RSPB supports wind farms and other forms of renewable energy.

A study of a Danish offshore wind farm used radar to track flocks of geese and eider ducks around the Nysted wind farm in the Baltic sea. It found that the birds flew almost exclusively down the corridors between the 72 turbines, with less than one per cent flying close enough to risk collision. Many also avoided the wind farm altogether. The study was by Mark Desholm and Johnny Kahlert of the National Environmental Research Institute in Rønde, Denmark (New Scientist, vol 186, no 2504: 18 June 2005). The study did not, however, use data during twilight hours or anything more than mild winds, and the researchers warn about the possible cumulative effect of increasing numbers of wind facilities.

Wind farms have been opposed by those who feel that the siting of some of them spoil the landscape, particularly in countryside areas of outstanding natural beauty where there is otherwise no industrialisation nor development (e.g. Snowdonia, Cumbria). Others say they feel that the wind turbines are beautiful regardless of where they are sited.

A study by the University of St Andrews of two Scottish and one Irish site found that support for wind farms was higher among those living near existing sites, than among those living near proposed sites. The study also found that, in the case of the Dun Law Wind Farm in the Scottish Borders, that support for the farm was lowest among residents living 10-20 km away, with support being higher closer to the farm. However, none of these sites involved areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Other criticisms include noise and vibration produced by the blades, gears, and motors, the flashing lights required on the tall towers (for aviation safety), the shadows cast by the rotating blades, and many more. At the same time, there are many neighbors of wind facilities who report no problems with them (see, for example, testimonials collected by the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, an advocacy group).

For further information on windfarms, see the Wind Electric information file under RISE Information Portal Technologies.

 

Resource Assessment & System Design

Through the Information Portal, RISE provides networking services to assist people researching various renewable energy Applications. Other quality institutions provide many excellent decision-making and capacity building tools and software freely available for download. By complementing the applications section in the Information Portal with these tools and programs, RISE has provided an excellent collection of resources that will assist you to find a sustainable solution to your energy needs.

In this section, some highly regarded decision making tools and software programs are summarised below;

“The RETScreen International Clean Energy Decision Support Centre seeks to build the capacity of planners, decision-makers and industry to implement renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. This objective is achieved by: developing decision-making tools that reduce the cost of pre-feasibility studies; disseminating knowledge to help people make better decisions; and by training people to better analyse the technical and financial viability of possible projects.”

Visit the RETScreen International Clean Energy Decision Support Centre

These RETScreen files contain a collection of project case studies, including assignments, worked-out solutions (RETScreen Software Analysis) and information about how the projects fared in the real world. This document includes a background of energy technology and it provides algorithms for project models. In addition there are many case studies that provide succinct details on various renewable installations including system descriptions, lessons learned and many other important and useful information.

Areas that are included are;

 

HOMER

“HOMER is a computer model that simplifies the task of evaluating design options for both off-grid and grid-connected power systems for remote, stand-alone, and distributed generation (DG) applications. HOMER's optimisation and sensitivity analysis algorithms allow you to evaluate the economic and technical feasibility of a large number of technology options and to account for variation in technology costs and energy resource availability. HOMER models both conventional and renewable energy technologies.”

Visit the HOMER Optimisation Model for Distributed Power Page

HOMER allows up to three independent generation technologies to be included in the simulation model. Each generation technology can be a different size, cost, and fuel, or they can all be alike. HOMER dispatches the generators in an economically optimal way, meaning that each hour it chooses the generator (or combination of generators) that can meet the load and operating reserve requirements at least cost. It considers replacement, O&M, and fuel cost when making its dispatch decisions, as well as the value (if any) of the waste heat recovered from each generator. Homer allows an extremely large range of system configurations to be simulated. You can download and use the full version of HOMER for free. You must be a registered user to download the software. When you install HOMER, you automatically receive a free six-month license, which you can renew for free an unlimited number of times.

Sources/Systems incorporated in HOMER are:

Project Summaries of some of the Large-scale Wind Installations in Australia

Wattle Point

Australia's largest wind farm is Wattle Point Wind Farm in South Australia and was officially opened by the Hon. Mike Rann, the Premier of South Australia. The farm has 55 Vestas V82 wind turbines on 11.5 square kilometres of land, and generates 91 MW of clean, green, renewable energy when the wind turbines are at full power (see Figure 2). Allowing for the time when there is too little wind or too much wind, the wind turbines at Wattle Point are expected to generate 312,000 MWh (or 2% of SA electricity) per year. This is enough to supply 52,000 homes (Southern Hydro, 2006).

Construction began in July 2004 and was completed in April 2005. At the peak construction time, there were 162 people working on the project. In operation, there are five full-time service technicians employed to operate and maintain the wind farm, which is expected to operate for 25 years. The height of each tower is 67 metres, and the length of each blade is 40 metres. The total height to the tip of the blade is 110 metres. Electricity generated by the Wattle Point Wind Farm is fed directly into Electranet’s 132 kV main transmission system and then onto the national electricity grid.
A free public viewing area and information display is now open on Sheaok Beach Road, 3 kilometres south of Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula. Visitors are able to stand right underneath a wind turbine and experience for themselves how these majestic machines capture this great, natural, renewable resource. (Southern Hydro, 2006).

 

Alinta's Walkaway Wind Farm

The second largest wind farm in Australia has officially opened in Western Australia's mid-west. Fifty-four turbines standing nearly 80 metres high make up Alinta's Walkaway wind farm, near Geraldton (see Figure 3). They will produce 90 MW of electricity at full capacity, which is only one megawatt less than Australia's largest wind farm at South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. The West Australian Premier at the time, Dr. Geoff Gallop said the project helped the State Government towards its goal of renewable energy making up 6 per cent of the state's power needs by 2010. The owner of the wind farm, Renewable Power Ventures, says it has plans for similar projects across Australia (ABC, 2005).
Alinta has an agreement with the owner of the wind farm project to take electricity produced from the farm for sale to contestable retail customers. Wind conditions at the Alinta Wind Farm site are ideal for producing cleaner, cheaper electricity with wind speeds averaging 25-35km/h during the summer sea breeze season, and 20-25km/h during the cooler months. The wind turbines themselves stand almost 120m high - some of the tallest in the world. The $210 million dollar project is directly injecting $30 million into the local economy and supports a construction crew of some 200 people (Alinta, 2005). (See Figure 4).

The 54 turbines have a startup speed of 14 km/h, a maximum power wind speed of 36km/h and a cut-off wind speed of 65 km/h. Each tower weighs 130 tonnes, with a blade length of 41 meters (82 meter diameter rotor) that weight 7.5 tonnes each.

 

Mount Millar

Tarong Energy aims to have the Mount Millar wind farm in South Australia fully operational in early 2006. The wind farm will have a generation capacity of 70 MW from the 35 wind turbine units on the site. This capacity generates enough electricity to meet the needs of about 36,000 typical South Australian households. The contractor for the wind farm’s construction is the internationally respected German company - Enercon. It is one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world with more than 7,000 units now operational worldwide. The wind turbine units have three blades with a hub height of 85 metres and an overall height of approximately 120 metres from the ground to the blade tip (Mount Millar, 2004).
 

Lake Bonney – Stage 1

The construction of Stage 1 of the Lake Bonney Wind Farm in South Australia was completed on budget and on time and clears the way for the commencement of construction of the 160 MW second stage of Lake Bonney. Stage 1 of the Lake Bonney Wind Farm is an 80.5 MW farm costing $157.6 million and the forty-six 1.75 MW V66 turbines are provided by Vestas. The expected output is approximately 200 GWh per annum (Prime Infrastructure, 2005).
 

Cathedral Rocks

The Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm is a joint venture project between Hydro Tasmania and the Spanish renewable energy company, EHN. The development of the Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm is a direct result of the Federal Government’s legislated Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, which enhanced the viability of developing commercial wind farms in Australia. Electricity generated by the Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm will help Australia meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets by supplying green energy sufficient for 25,000 homes every year. The site is a remote coastal area located near the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, about 30km south west of Port Lincoln and covers an area of about 29km². The wind farm has a final installed capacity of 66 megawatts and consists of thirty-three 2 MW Vestas turbines each with a blade diameter of 80 metres on 60 metre tall towers (Hydro Tasmania, 2004).

 

Albany

The Albany Wind Farm was in the planning stages for over ten years. The site is 12 km south-west of the city centre. It sits adjacent to cliffs along the coastline in an elevated position approximately 80 m above the Southern Ocean. It consists of twelve 1.8 MW (21.6 MW total) wind turbines connected to the Albany electrical system and Western Power's control network (see Figure 5). The turbines are Enercon E66 machines from Germany and were installed by Enercon Power Corporation. The turbines were chosen because of community opinion and environmental constraints. Approximately 50 per cent of the content of the project was Australian sourced. In an average year the wind farm is expected to produce about 77,000 MWh of electricity equivalent to 75 per cent of the City of Albany's electricity requirements or about 15,000 homes. This will result in a lowering of greenhouse gas emissions by about 77,000 tonnes per year, as less coal and gas will have to be burnt by Western Power. The farm was commissioned in September 2001 for a capital cost of $45 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Blayney

Blayney Wind Farm in New South Wales has 15 wind turbines with a hub height of 45 metres and a rotor diameter of 47 metres, each with a capacity of 660 kW, giving a total of nearly 10 MW for the Blayney Farm. Power control is exercised through the use of fully pitchable blades to maintain a constant speed of about 28 rpm. Blade rotation is transmitted through a gearbox to a generator that produces electricity at 690 volts. The wind farm is situated on two farming properties whose families have long been associated with grazing in the district. The traditional rural activities can be continued right up to the base of the wind turbine towers and will continue during the operation of the wind farm over the next 20 years. The wind turbines have minimal impact on their rural properties. Pacific Power International undertook careful planning of the wind farm site, turbine layout, associated infrastructure and stakeholder consultation and minimised any potential environmental impact including potential visual, noise, flora and fauna and radio and television interference impacts. The owner, Eraring Energy commissioned the Farm in October 2002 at a capital cost of $18 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Challicum Hills

Challicum Hills Wind Farm, in Buangor, west of Melbourne in Victoria consists of 35 1.5MW turbines, giving a total of 52.5 MW (see Figure 6). Seven farming families lease land to Pacific Hydro for the wind generators and connecting roads. The wind farm takes up less than 1 per cent of the available grazing land. The site was chosen for strong and consistent winds, community support and proximity to a National Electricity Grid connection. The NEG Micon wind generators used at Challicum Hills each have their own internal computer system to monitor the wind direction and speed, and the rotors automatically pitch into the prevailing wind for maximum generation efficiency and can be monitored and controlled via a remote. Electricity production commences above 14 km/h, the blades rotate at 17.3 rpm and rated capacity is reached at winds of around 57 km/h. The generators automatically shut down in winds above 90 km/h to avoid damage. The plant is expected to produce over 130,000 GWh of electricity per annum. Power generated from the project is sold to Origin Energy under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement. The project is expected to save some 170,000 tonnes per annum of greenhouse gas emissions and produce the equivalent annual electricity needs of up to 25,000 houses. The owners, Pacific Hydro commissioned Challicum in November 2003 at a capital cost of $76 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Codrington

Codrington Wind Farm in Victoria was the first fully private investment in a wind farm in Australia. It consists of 14 turbines with a combined capacity of 18.2 MW (see Figure 7). The turbines are made by AN Bonus, each with an electrical capacity of 1.3 MW and are mounted on tubular towers 50 metres high. The rotors have a total diameter of 62 metres and the blades pitch to optimise the power produced and to control the rotation speed. Power is produced at wind speeds of between 10.8 km/h and 90 km/h at 690 volts and is eventually stepped up to 66,000 volts with a transformer for connection to the grid. The site is owned by two farmers who lease access to Pacific Hydro. The turbines take up less than 1 per cent of the area of the farm, which continues to be used for sheep and cattle grazing. A comprehensive consultation process took place examining local environmental impacts including birds, flora and fauna, Aboriginal cultural issues and local visual and noise studies, as well as its socioeconomic impacts. The farm was commissioned on July 2001 for a capital cost of $33 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Hampton

Hampton Wind Park in New South Wales was commissioned in September 2001 and was the first wind energy development in Australia to be initiated, developed and operated privately by a landholder. Founding Hickory Hill Wind Energy after a career operating coal-fired power generation, Hugh Litchfield originally identified the site on his family's farm, initiated the project and shared the costs of the 18 month initial resource assessment with Integral Energy. Hampton Park is at Hickory Hill just off the Jenolan Caves road near Hampton, which is atop the Great Dividing Range about 115 km west of Sydney. Hampton Wind Park has a capacity of 1.32 MW. The wind park consists of two wind turbines each with a maximum capacity of 660 kW. Each wind turbine stands 50 m high and the rotors have a diameter of 47 m, with each rotor consisting of three blades rotated at 28.4 revolutions per minute. They start turning when the wind sustains 4 metres per second (14 km/h) and reach nominal generation at 13-16 m/s (46-58 km/h). They stop turning at over 25 m/s (90 km/h) to avoid damage. Wind Corporation Australia provided technical and commercial expertise as well as capital. The New South Wales State Government Department of Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), now part of the Department of Energy Utilities and Sustainability, provided initial financial assistance. Wind Corporation Australia received funding from the CVC Renewable Energy Equity Fund (REEF), a $26.5 million venture capital fund established by the Federal Government to increase investment in renewable energy technologies. The capital cost was $2.5 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Starfish Hill

Starfish Hill Wind Farm in South Australia is located near Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula (see Figure 8), eight of the 23 turbines are located on Starfish Hill and fifteen on Salt Creek Hill. The site was selected for its consistently strong winds, potential for low ecological impact as well as transport and grid accessibility. The 1.5 MW turbines incorporate a rotor diameter of 64 m and a rotor swept area of 3217 m2 operating on a 68 m tower. The blades incorporate hydraulic tip air brakes and the system includes hydraulic disc brakes. The asynchronous generator operates at a nominal voltage of 690 V and frequency of 50 Hz (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).
The plant is expected to produce about 100 GWh of electricity per annum, which is to be sold to Australian Gas Light Company (AGL) under a long-term agreement. Starfish Hill provides enough energy to meet the needs of more than 18,000 households, representing 2 per cent of South Australia's residential customers, and it adds 1 per cent to the available generation capacity in South Australia. Community consultation included discussions with Yankalilla Council. Landowners initiated  significant project modifications including upgrading existing local public roads to access the site. The total capacity of the farm is 34.5 MW and was commissioned in September 2003 at a capital cost of $65 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Toora

Toora Wind Farm in Victoria consists of 12 turbines with a combined capacity of 21 MW. The turbines are made by Danish company Vestas and each has an electrical capacity of 1.75 MW mounted on tubular towers 67 metres high. The rotors have a total diameter of 66 metres and the blades pitch to optimise the power produced and to control the rotation speed. The Toora wind farm produces enough energy to supply more than 6600 homes and will abate the equivalent of up to 48,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The owner, Stanwell Corporation, commissioned the farm in October 2002 with a capital cost of $38 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Windy Hill - Stage 1

Phase 1 of Windy Hill Wind Farm in Queensland consists of 20 turbines with a combined capacity of 12 MW (see Figure 9). The turbines are Enercon E40 machines, each with an electrical capacity of 600 kW. The turbines are mounted on tubular towers 44 metres high, the hub height is 46 metres with a rotor diameter of 46 metres. The blades pitch to optimise the power produced and to control the rotational speed. The rated output is produced at wind speeds of between 47 km/hour and 90 km/hour, the cut-in wind speed is 9 km/hour. The owners, Stanwell Corporation, do not own the land around the wind farm as two local farmers have entered into lease access agreements with them to continue their normal farming activities. Stage 1 was commissioned in August 2000 and capital costs totaled $20 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

Windy Hill - Stage 2 consists of another 22 turbines, taking the total capacity of the farm to 25 MW (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Woolnorth

Woolnorth Wind Farm, Stage 1, is located in the north-west of Tasmania on the vast dairying and cattle Woolnorth property by the coast. Hydro Tasmania used meso-scale modeling combined with GIS mapping of topography and infrastructure to select the site and to estimate the wind resource at Woolnorth. Two wind monitoring towers of heights 50 meters and 70 meters were erected on the proposed site and the wind data from these towers was correlated with 13 years of wind data from a nearby atmospheric research station. By July 1999, the landowner had agreed to sell 3000 ha of land to Hydro Tasmania and now leases the land from Hydro Tasmania to continue its previous agricultural activities. Woolnorth’s first stage consists of six Vestas 1.75 MW turbines (totaling 10.5 MW) in the northern section of the site, connected to a 22 kV line (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

As part of the preparation for the Woolnorth wind farm development, the owner, Hydro Tasmania, spent three years undertaking a comprehensive Development Proposal and Environmental Management Plan covering all environmental matters associated with developing a wind farm. The species of birds on site were thoroughly examined, including modeling the potential risk of bird collisions with wind turbines and developing management strategies to minimise the bird collision risk. These studies concentrated on the Orange-bellied Parrot and Wedge-tailed Eagles but other species have also been considered as a matter of best practice. The studies revealed that Orange-bellied Parrots rarely use the site where the wind farm will be built. To further minimise any potential collision risk, Hydro Tasmania developed detailed vegetation management plans to attract Orange-bellied Parrots to areas away from the turbines. Hydro Tasmania also relocated wind turbines away from the nest sites of Wedge-tailed Eagles and White-bellied Sea Eagles,in accordance with stipulated buffer zones. Stage 1 was commissioned in October 2002 at a capital cost of $26 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

Woolnorth Wind Farm, Stage 2 (see Figure 10), is comprised of thirty-one 1.75 MW Vestas V66 wind turbines with 60 metres towers and a rotor diameter of 66 metres and a swept area of 3,421 m². "Renewable energy projects by Hydro Tasmania and Vestas have been part of an economic and technological revival in the area. A Vestas turbine nacelle and fibreglass component factory has been established at Wynyard and the Woolnorth Wind Farm development assists the local region. The total plant is expected to produce 246 GWh of electricity per annum and provides enough energy to meet the needs of more than 32,000 households. The total Woolnorth Wind Farm capacity is now 64.25 MW costing $97 million in capital and Stage 2 was commissioned in May 2004 (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

Woolnorth Wind Farm, Stage 3, started construction on the 12 January 2006 in Studland Bay. The construction of the turbine footings will involve 10,000 cubic metres of concrete, which will be the largest project of this kind under construction in Tasmania to date. It is anticipated that construction will be completed, and all turbines operational by early 2007. Construction of the site infrastructure is being undertaken by local contracting company, Hazell Brothers, in a joint venture with AREVA, and is expected to employ 50 personnel over the life of the project. When completed, the site will comprise 25 new V90 wind turbines, each with a generating capacity of 3 MW, for a total wind farm capacity of 75 MW. The V90 machines will be the largest wind turbines in operation in Australia, and will stand 80 metres above the ground. Overall, the completion of Woolnorth Studland Bay early this year (2007) will take the total generating capacity of the North West coast wind farm to 140 MW, making it the largest wind farm in Australia. (Hydro Tasmania, 2006).

 

Nine Mile Beach

The 3.6 MW Nine Mile Beach wind farm near Esperance in Western Australia (see Figure 11) is adjacent to Western Power's existing wind farm at Ten Mile Lagoon and was chosen for the abundant wind energy resource, existing grid connection infrastructure and proximity to Esperance. The wind farm was initially displacing diesel fuel generation in Esperance and is now offsetting gas-fired generation in the town. The control system equipment that enables integration with the existing diesel and gas power stations was delivered by Powercorp of the Northern Territory to maximise the wind input while maintaining power quality with integration into fossil-fueled power stations. The plant is expected to produce 9.5 GWh of electricity per annum and the power generated from the project is currently sold to the Esperance Power Station under a long-term wind power purchase agreement. It was commissioned in July 2003 at a capital cost of $10.6 million (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Mawson Base

Mawson Wind Farm in Antarctica was commissioned in March 2003 for a capital cost of $6 million and an installed capacity of 600 kW (see Figure 12). Australian Antarctic stations have previously required 2.1 megalitres of diesel fuel annually. Transporting fuel and oil to Antarctica across broken ice flows and through breaking surf is a costly and sometimes risky exercise - fuel spills have occurred on occasions. This is the first installation of large wind turbines in Antarctica. The installation machinery (a 100 tonne crane) was far heavier than anything previously delivered to Antarctica. Each foundation consisted of around 60 m3 of concrete and was anchored to Mawson 's granite bedrock with 64.3 m of deep ground anchors. For this project Enercon E-30 wind turbines were modified with extra insulation and special steel in castings and tower sections to meet the high average wind speeds and cold temperatures (which drop as low as -36 °C). Other requirements included not using a gearbox (no oil-leaks due to seal problems in the cold), a variable pitch blade mechanism to allow easy control of power output on a soft grid and good sealing against snow ingress. Because of the dry atmosphere at Mawson, blade icing is not an issue and the turbines can safely operate at up to 125 km/h (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

Powercorp 's computerised IPS system has been adapted to control and optimise the output of the wind turbines and diesel generators to match the station electrical load. The plant, connected to the station’s 415 Volt ring-main grid, is expected to produce around 4.2 GWh of electricity per annum. The project was entirely internally funded and approval to proceed was based solely on its economic viability, principally in terms of fuel cost savings. There will be a substantial reduction in the risk of oil spills during the refueling operations with refueling now likely to occur every four to five years, not annually. The plant is planned to incorporate an additional turbine, expanding capacity to 900 kW. Similar systems are proposed for the Australian Antarctic Casey and Davis stations. Fine-tuning of the system is expected to achieve a provision of 100 per cent of the station load for around 75 per cent of the year. This will be achieved with a short-term boiler and interface storage system and a hydrogen generator/fuel-cell power system. Energy generated by wind and stored as hydrogen may be transported to remote field camps (Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2006).

 

Current & Proposed Installations in Australia

Table 1 below shows a list of the existing wind projects in Australia of installed capacity greater than 10 kW.

PROJECT & LOCATION	OWNER/ DEVELOPER	CONNECT.	YEAR	MAKE, TURBINE	No.	TOTAL SIZE
Breamlea VIC	Barwon Water	Grid	1987	Westwind 60kW	1	0.06
Flinders Island 1 TAS	Hydro Tasmania	Wind Diesel	1988	na 55kW	1	0.055
Salmon Beach* WA (Decommissioned)	SECWA, now Verve	Wind Diesel	1988	Westwind 60kW	6	0.36
Cooper Pedy SA	na	Wind Diesel	1991	Nordex 150kW	1	0.15
Coconut Island (decommissioned) QLD	Ergon Energy	Wind Diesel	1992	na 10kW	1	0.01
Ten Mile Lagoon WA	Western Power	Wind Diesel	1992	Vestas 225kW	9	2.025
Aurora (Brunswick) VIC	Citipower	Grid	1993	na 10kW	1	0.01
Flinders Island 2 TAS	Hydro Tasmania	Wind Diesel	1996	na 25kW	1	0.025
Armadale WA	na	Grid	1997	Westwind 30kW	1	0.03
Kooragang Island, Newcastle NSW	Energy Australia	Grid	1997	Vestas 600kW	1	0.6
Thursday Island QLD	Ergon Energy	Wind Diesel	1997	Vestas 225kW	2	0.45
Crookwell NSW details	Eraring Energy	Grid	1998	Vestas 600kW	8	4.8
Huxley Hill, King Island TAS	Hydro Tasmania	Wind Diesel	1998	Nordex 250kW	3	0.75
Denham WA	Verve	Wind Diesel	1999	Enercon 230kW	3	0.69
Epenarra NT	na	Wind Diesel	1999	Lagerway 80kW	1	0.08
Blayney NSW	Eraring Energy	Grid	2000	Vestas 660kW	15	9.9
Murdoch WA	RISE	Research	2000	Westwind 20kW	1	0.02
Windy Hill QLD	Stanwell	Grid	2000	Enercon 600kW	20	12
Albany WA	Verve	Grid	2001	Enercon 1.8MW	12	21.6
Codrington VIC	Pacific Hydro	Wind Diesel	2001	Bonus 1.3MW	14	18.2
Hampton NSW	Wind Corporation Australia	Grid	2001	Vestas 660kW	2	1.32
Exmouth Advanced WA	Verve	Research	2002	Westwind 20kW	3	0.06
Toora VIC details	Stanwell	Grid	2002	Vestas 1.75MW	12	21
Woolnorth Stage 1 TAS	Hydro Tasmania	Grid	2002	Vestas 1.75MW	6	10.5
9 Mile Beach WA	Verve	Wind Diesel	2003	Enercon 600kW	6	3.6
Challicum Hills VIC	Pacific Hydro	Grid	2003	NEG Micon 1.5MW	35	52.5
Huxley Hill stage 3 TAS	Hydro Tasmania	Wind Diesel	2003	Vestas 850kW	2	1.7
Mawson Base** AAT details	Australian Antartic Division	Wind Diesel	2003	Enercon 300kW	2	0.6
Starfish Hill SA details	Tarong Energy	Grid	2003	NEG Micon 1.5MW	23	34.5
Bluff Point (Woolnorth Stage 2) TAS	Hydro Tasmania	Grid	2004	Vestas 1.75MW	31	54.25
Canunda SA	International Power/ Wind Prospect	Grid	2004	Vestas 2MW	23	46
Hopetoun WA	Verve	Wind Diesel	2004	Enercon 600kW	1	0.6
Lake Bonney Stage 1 SA	Babcock & Brown National Power	Grid	2004	Vestas 1.75MW	46	80.5
Rottnest Island WA	Rottnest Island Board	Wind Diesel	2004	Enercon 600kW	1	0.6
Bremer Bay WA	Verve	Wind Diesel	2005	Enercon 600kW	1	0.6
Cathedral Rocks SA	Hydro Tasmania & Acciona Energy	Grid	2005	Vestas 2MW	33	66
Cocos (Keeling) Island WA	PowerCorp/Diesel & Wind Systems	Wind Diesel	2005	Westwind 20kW	4	0.08
Mount Millar (Yabmana)	Tarong Energy	Grid	2005	Enercon 2MW	35	70
Walkaway WA	B&B/National Power Partners/Carbon Solutions	Grid	2005	Vestas V82 1.65MW	54	89.1
Wattle Point SA	Southern Hydro & Wind Farm Developments	Grid	2005	Vestas 1.65MW	55	90.75
Wonthaggi VIC details	Wind Power Pty Ltd	Grid	2005	REpower 2MW	6	12
Emu Downs	Stanwell Corporation/Griffin Energy	Grid	2006	Vestas 1.65MW	48	79.2
Yambuk VIC	Pacific Hydro	Grid	2006	NEG Micon 1.5MW	20	30
					Subtotal	817MW

For a similar table of proposed installations in Australia, visit this Auswea link.

For a some interesting facts about wind installations in Australia, visit this Auswea link.

 

Costs and Performance

Maintaining the reliability and minimising costs when committing to wind energy is viewed by some as a major obstacle to increased integration of wind into supply networks. However this is a simplification of the issue. The Utility Wind Interest Group (UWIG) released a report called "Utility Wind Integration State of the Art" in May 2006. This summarises some experience in the integration of wind technologies into existing electricity networks. It states "There is evidence that with new equipment designs and proper plant engineering, system stability in response to a major plant or line outage can actually be improved by the addition of wind generation. Since wind is primarily an energy – not a capacity – source, no additional generation needs to be added to provide back-up capability provided that wind capacity is properly discounted in the determination of generation"(UWIG, 2006). This means that many concerns and arguments against adding wind generation capacity and its supposed harm on system stability, can be allayed with proper design, and may not be relevant to wind penetrations from 10 to even 20% of the entire grid. Other studies and actual experience seems to point in the direction and recommendations of UWIG, however the actual values and recommendations can vary.

 

Further Information

RISE Resources - Information regarding available renewable energy resources.

RISE Technologies - An extensive collection of information regarding renewable energy technologies.

RISE Applications & System Design - Renewable energy application information and system designs.

RISE System Displays - Case studies and information on installed renewable energy systems & performance data.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA)

Verve Energy

Great Southern Energy

Energy Australia

University of Newcastle

Auswea

Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy

 

 

References

ABC, 2005. “Second largest wind farm opens in WA” (Online) http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1442309.htm (Accessed 28 February 2007).

Alinta, 2005. “About Alinta – providing energy solutions” (Online) http://www.alinta.net.au/investor/companyReports/annualReports/Alinta_Concise_Annual_Report_2005.pdf/ (Accessed 28 February 2007).