First stage of what will be Australia’s biggest wind project gets ready to inject power into grid

The first stage of the Golden Plains wind project in Victoria, which will be the biggest in Australia when complete, has entered the market operator’s grid management system and will soon be ready for testing and commissioning.

Golden Plains is divided into two stages, east and west, and will total 1,333 megawatts (MW) when both stages are finished in 2027, overtaking the 923 megawatt (MQW) MacIntyre wind project in Queensland.

But Golden Plains may also be first to market, with its first 756 MW stage already entering the grid management system, according to Geoff Eldridge of GPE NEMLog, which enables it to begin testing and start to work through the commissioning process, which could take another five to six months.

The $3 billion project, which will also include a big battery – possibly sized at 300 MW and several hours of storage – began construction in 2023, and obtained its connection approvals from the Australian Energy Market Operator in just five months, around half the time normally expected.

Golden Plains is the third new wind project in Victoria to enter the grid management system in recent weeks.

Just last week, the 218 MW Ryan’s Corner wind project owned by Global Power Generation near Port Fairy officially entered the AEMO Market Management System (EMMS) and the nearby 89 MW Hawkesdale wind farm entered the MMS in late May.

The Hawkesdale wind project is now on a 30 MW hold point as it works its way through the commissioning process towards full capacity.

At Golden Plains, more than one quarter of the 122 turbines in the first stage of the project have already been erected, and construction of the 93-turbine second stage began in June after a financing deal was landed with Australia and overseas banks.

Construction on the first stage of Golden Plains started in early 2023. MacIntyre started construction in 2022 and was going to be sized at more than a gigawatt, but one 103 MW component was withdrawn by the state-owned CleanCo last year because of connection delays and rising costs.

It is yet to enter AEMO’s grid management system, GPE NEMLog’s Eldridge says.

However, MacIntyre will have the opportunity to double in size with the 1,000 MW Herries wind component, part of the broader MacIntyre precinct, also now working its way through the planning process.

Golden Plains is using V162-6.2MW wind turbines from Danish turbine maker Vestas. It is majority owned by TagEnergy.

It has signed power purchase agreements with Equinox, Snowy Hydro and Ikea and hopes to also secure an underwriting agreement through the federal government’s Capacity Invesgment Scheme.

It has also partnered with retailer Energy Locals to provide eligible residents within a 3km radius of the turbines with up to $1600 per annum in credits, equivalent to the annual usage of an average Victorian home, by switching to Energy Locals.