Concrete foundations and first turbines up as S.A.’s biggest wind farm poised to start production

The biggest wind project in South Australia – and the first to connect to the country’s most renewable state in more than two years – is nearing first generation with all 75 concrete foundations laid and the first 22 wind turbines complete.

The 412 megawatt (MW) Goyder South wind project near Burra is being built by Neoen Australia, which has agreed to a $10 billion takeover from Canadian funds management giant Brookfield and is regarded as the most successful developer of renewables and storage in Australia.

In a LinkedIn post over the weekend, Neoen said all 75 concrete footings had now been poured, and the first 22 turbines had also been installed. The wind farm has also been registered and is poised to start injecting power into the grid, albeit at small initial amounts, some time soon.

South Australia has the biggest share of wind and solar in its local grid in Australia, and the world, with an average of 70 per cent in the last 12 months, according to OpenNEM.

Remarkably, Goyde South will be the first wind project to be added to the grid since April 2022 when the wind component of Iberdrola’s Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park started sending power to the grid.

South Australia aims to reach 100 per cent net renewables by 2027, even though its share of wind and solar fell slightly in the last six months due to significant wind lulls this past autumn.

Goyder South has contracts with the ACT government and a landmark deal with BHP to provide a supply of “baseload renewables” to the giant Olympic Dam mine in concert with the Blyth battery that is also under construction in South Australia.

Neoen is also putting the finishing touches to its Western Downs and Capital batteries in Queensland and NSW, and is also building the Culcairn solar farm in NSW and the country’s biggest battery project, the 560 MW, 2240 MWh Collie battery in Western Australia.