Construction has officially started on the 288 megawatt (MW) Palmer wind farm in South Australia, more than decade after the project was first unveiled.
The start of construction was announced on Wednesday by Tilt Renewables, a leading Australian-owned renewable energy company, and is one of the first wind projects to backed by the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme to reach this stage.
The wind project has gone through several design iterations over the years, with the most obvious being the reduced number of turbines – thanks to the big leaps in turbine capacity.
Palmer, located around 70 km east of Adelaide will feature 40 turbines – that will rank, at least for a while, as the biggest yet to be installed in Australia.
The Vestas V172-7.2 MW turbines will have a hub height of 126 metres and a 172m rotor dimension. Vestas says the wind turbines repay the energy needed for manufacturing them in less than 7 months and deliver a 34-times return over the life time of the project.
“The start of construction is a major milestone for Palmer Wind Farm and follows more than a decade of planning, consultation and design refinement,” Tilt Renewables CEO Anthony Fowler said in a statement.
“Over this time, we’ve worked hard to reduce its environmental and community impacts cutting the number of turbines from 103 to 40 while maintaining similar energy output.
“We’ve worked closely with Council, our landholders and neighbours to share in the benefits this project brings. Neighbours, the local community and First Nations people will receive more than $13 million in benefits over the life of the project”.”
Palmer is one of two wind projects currently under construction in South Australia, with another winner of the Capacity Investment Scheme tenders, the Aula Energy owned 256 MW Carmody’s Hill wind project starting construction in April.
Another South Australia project, the 300 MW first stage of the Goyder North wind farm will also begin construction soon, following the completion of the neighbouring Goyder South wind farm. It will also include a big battery to help deliver a “baseload renewables” contract to BHP’s giant Olympic Dam mine.
Wind farms have struggled to land finance and move construction, largely because of rising civil construction costs and because the CIS – which essentially minimise downside risk – are not enough to lure bankers into the deal.
The projects that have moved ahead – including the 108 MW Waddi project in Western Australia, also owned by Tilt Renewables – have done so because they have secured off-take deals.
In the case of Palmer and Waddi, this has been with AGL Energy, while Carmody’s Hill has an agreement with Snowy Hydro.
Wind farm developers have asked the federal government if they can resubmit their bids to make them more attractive to financial backers, but have been told this will not be allowed, but they can be re-bid.
There is speculation that some will turn to state-based auctions, such as the NSW tenders that offer a similar but possibly more generous instrument.
Tilt’s Fowler says construction at Palmer is starting this week and will initially involve preparing the site including access points, internal track network and site offices. The company will hold monthly drop-in sessions for the local community throughout construction.
The facility will be built by principal contractor BMD, with construction set to start in the middle of 2026, and turbine deliveries due in the first quarter of 2027. It should be commissioned later in 2027, helping South Australia meet its target of reaching 100 per cent net renewables by the end of next year.
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