Chart of the Day: Australia’s best performing wind farms in May

The partially complete Stockyard Hill wind project in Victoria – which will be the biggest in Australian once fully commissioned – has once again topped the charts for the country’s best performing wind in a calendar month.

The latest data from Rystad Energy shows Stockyard Hill a clear winner in May, with a capacity factor just short of 50 per cent in May.

It is the second month in a row that Stockyard Hill, owned by Goldwind and contracted to Origin Energy, has topped the charts of best performing wind farm.

It was seen as a ground-breaking project when the contract was signed in 2017 because of what was then a record low price for wind power – estimated at just over $50/MWh.

The project has suffered delays and is still not operating at full capacity, but Origin will be thankful for such cheap power, particularly as it faces a cost blowout for coal at its main coal generator Eraring.

Stockyard Hill comfortably beat the WA-based wind farm Badgingarra, the consistently strong Kiata wind farm in Victoria, and the White Rock and Sapphire wind farms in norther NSW and the Granville Harbor wind farm in Tasmania.

The biggest wind farm currently operating in Australia, the 453MW Coopers Gap in Queensland, also made a rare appearance in the top 15 wind projects, coming in at number 12.

Note: Capacity factors are normally influenced by local wind conditions but can also be affected by transmission and economic constraints, and of course by the quality of the gear and any outages.