Final turbine installed at biggest wind project in NSW

The installation of the final turbine has been completed at what will be – at least for a short time – the biggest wind project in NSW, the 396 MW Rye Park facility near Yass in the southern highlands region.

Renewable energy developer Tilt Renewables announced the news on LinkedIn this week, saying that the final turbine is now “up and ready for commissioning. “

Rye Park started injecting power into the grid last July, when the first of 66 Vestas turbines was commissioned and has been steadily ramping up its output since as more of the wind farm is completed.

On Wednesday this week the wind project reached its highest output to date – 279 MW – indicating that the project is likely three quarter complete. Tilt Renewables says the project is expected to be fully operational by the middle of this year.

While Rye Park is the biggest wind project to date it will soon be overtaken by the 414 MW Uungula project being built near Wellington in the central west of the state by Andrew Forres’t Squadron Energy.

Bigger projects are also in the pipeline, including several gigawatt scale projects planned for the state’s south west, such as the 1.4 GW Yanco Delta wind project bought last week by Origin Energy.

About 55 per cent of energy production from the Rye Park wind farm is contracted to mining company Newcrest Mining under a 15-year power purchase agreement that will supply the Cadia gold mine in NSW.

The remainder is going to AGL Energy, which signed a 15-year power purchase agreement over the other 45 per cent and for the associated large-scale generation certificates (LGCs), which it’s on-selling to Microsoft.