Australian-made turbine parts arrive at Mortlake South wind farm in Victoria

The first turbine components have arrived on-site at the 157.5MW, 35-turbine wind farm being developed south of Mortlake in Victoria by Spanish renewables group Acciona Energy.

Acciona announced the arrival of the wind turbine parts in a Tweet late last week, marking the latest “very exciting” milestone for the $275 million project, which was one of six winners of the Victorian government’s renewable energy auction in September of 2018.

As noted in the Tweet, below, the turbine towers for the wind farm are being manufactured in Australia, at Hayward’s Steel in Tasmania.

Mortlake South wind farm will also include between 5-7MWh of battery storage and will connect to the grid via the “state’s first” underground transmission line.

The plan to use underground cabling was revealed at a sod-turning event in March of 2019, partly in response to local objections to the addition of more transmission lines in the area.

“It’s more expensive, but it’s the right thing to do for this project,” Acciona Australia’s managing director Brett Wickham reportedly said at the time.

“We examined various options, and of course are fully aware that existing aboveground transmission lines have caused some angst locally. As our approach is to invest in local areas for the long term and work cooperatively with communities, we felt this decision would be the most appropriate local solution for these specific circumstances.”

According to the project’s website, the wind farm is being built on land mainly used for dairy farming and with great exposure to consistent winds. Livestock grazing will continue around the wind turbines once construction is complete, Acciona has said.