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How are wind farms developed?
Wind farms are becoming an increasingly common sight in Australia – but they don’t just spring up out of nowhere.
14 October 2024
Powered by wind
Wind turbines have been around for over 100 years and was used in 1887-88 in the UK and USA but was considered to have been first developed in Denmark. In Australia, wind pumps were primarily used for pumping water for livestock a century ago, until 1987 when Salmon Beach Wind Farm began operating in Western Australia.
In Australia 2023, wind power represented 14% of the total energy supply and 35% of the renewable energy supply according to the Clean Energy Council. In total, Wind contributed more than 31,6 million MWh of power.
HOW WIND POWER WORKS
At its core, wind power is actually just another form of solar energy. Wind currents result from changes in air temperature and pressure that are triggered by the sun. These wind currents are then converted into electricity using a wind turbine.
The turbine is made up of four main parts – the base, tower, generator and rotor blades (also referred to as propellers). Most wind turbines have three rotor blades.
The wind spins the rotor blades, which creates the kinetic energy that drives the generator. The generator converts wind into electricity by rotating magnets around a stationary coil of wires known as the stator – as the magnets pass the stator, they produce alternating current (AC) electricity that can be exported to the power grid.
Wind turbines are most effective in areas with high average wind speeds. The winds need to be constant, or at least coincide with times of peak energy consumption during the day and early evening. Turbines in wind farms tend to be very tall (between 130 and 160 meters high, on average), because winds are stronger higher from the ground and longer rotor blades are able to harvest more energy.
Watch our video to see how this renewable energy source works.
Our flagship projects
Wambo Wind Farm
Wambo Wind Farm is a 50:50 joint venture project with Cubico and will be completed in two stages providing 500MW of energy. In total 83 turbines are planned.
Stage 1: 42 wind turbines are currently in construction and expected to be operational in 2025.
Stage 2: 41 wind turbines are in planning with an expected operational date of early 2026.
The wind turbines are sourced from Vestas, the world’s leading manufacturer of wind turbines. Each blade is 80M in length and weighs in at 24 tonnes. To transport these blades to site, the project is upgrading roads into the region. Turbines will rise 247m into the air.
Tarong West Wind Farm
This wind farm project has been developed by RES over a development area of 17,500 hectares 30km south-west of Kingaroy, Queensland.
The project has been in planning since 2018 with RES and Stanwell commenced discussions in 2021 to optimise the project. The project includes the protection of around 13ha of Koala habitat and rehabilitation of Koala habitat areas cleared during construction.
97 X 4.5 MW Vestas Turbines are planned for the site with 2 Transformers. The height of the wind hubs is expected to be 166m.
Read more about the Tarong West Wind Farm
WIND INFORMATION HUB
How are wind farms developed? Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm could be built in Queensland 
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- Wind power
Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm could be built in Queensland
Queensland could be set to build Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm, following the announcement of a $776 million funding injection for the Tarong West Wind Farm in the South Burnett. Here’s what you need to know about the project.
31 July 2023
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