First towers erected, transformers arrive at only wind project being built in Australia’s biggest coal state

The construction of the 414-megawatt (MW) Uungula wind farm by Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy has taken two important steps forward, with pre-installation of the site’s 69 turbines getting underway only days after the arrival of transformers for the project’s electrical infrastructure.

Squadron Energy announced on its LinkedIn account late last week that transformers had arrived at the project’s site in Wellington, New South Wales, and were currently being installed.

This was followed up on Monday with the announcement that pre-construction of the wind farm’s turbines had begun, erecting the towers and installing the base sections for each turbine.

“This phase of construction represents strong momentum for Uungula Wind Farm, with teams now actively and safely assembling lower sections of each turbine tower,” said Sanjay Goel, Uungula wind farm project director. 

“Seeing the first sections of the tower going up brings us a step closer to delivering a project that will generate enough clean energy to power more than 200,000 homes and businesses.” 

The Uungula project is currently the only wind farm currently under construction in NSW, which is still scrambling to secure enough new wind and solar capacity to replace the ageing coal fleet (still the largest in the country) which is due to retire over the coming decade.

At Uungula, three mid sections of the turbine tower are installed along with the base section, each of which weigh anywhere from 76 to 82 tonnes. Once the four sections are in place they measure 83 metres tall, though the full height of each turbine will reach 148 metres.

The assist cranes used for the project will steadily complete pre-installation of one turbine at a time before moving on to the next. Additional turbine components are set to be delivered to the site over the next few weeks, while the larger components are currently scheduled to begin transport at a later stage.

Once completed, the 69 wind turbines will generate electricity to power the equivalent of 220,000 homes.  

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