First turbine up at 180MW Warradarge Wind Farm in W.A.

The first of 51 Vestas wind turbines has been erected at the Warradarge wind farm, a 180MW project being developed by Bright Energy Investments (BEI) in Western Australia’s mid-west region.

BEI – a joint venture of the Dutch Infrastructure Fund (DIF), Cbus and Synergy – said on Tuesday that the project was on track to start sending power to the grid at around the start of the fourth quarter of 2020.

“Erection of the first full turbine is another major milestone for this important renewable energy project,” said BEI general manager Tom Frood.

“Assembly of each wind turbine generator generally takes around two days to complete, depending on weather conditions,” he said.

The site for the Warradarge wind farm, near the town of Eneabba, has been praised by both Vestas and state energy minister Bill Johnston for its “abundant” wind resource.

Once complete, it is expected to supply enough energy to power 148,500 West Australian homes.

For Vestas, the BEI project took it to 1GW of turbine orders in Australia over the course of 2018, and signalled a new focus for the Danish wind giant on Australia’s WA market, as we reported here.

For W.A., Warradarge is part of a boom in the construction of large-scale renewable power plants, including the Yandin wind farm being built by Alinta north of Perth, the expansion of the Greenough River solar farm, and the Badgingarra wind farm.