Macquarie partner unveils another two wind projects totalling more than 1.1 GW in WA wheatbelt

Aspiring renewable energy developer Green Wind Renewables has revealed details for its next two wind projects as it looks to build out a massive 2.4 gigawatt (GW) portfolio with the offshoot of one of Australia’s biggest financial institutions.

Green Wind is the preferred local partner of Aula, the Macquarie-owned onshore renewables business, and the latest projects – – the 700 megawatt (MW) Grevillea and 450 MW Wandoo projects – add to the previously unveiled 600 MW Ambrosia project in the WA wheat bowl area around Collie. 

Grevillea and Wandoo are also in the wheatbelt region but north-east of Perth this time; the former is 20km south of Moora and the latter 50km south of the town. 

Grevillea is expected to host as many as 110 turbines, and Wandoo up to 75. Both are in the early stages of development.  

The Ambrosia project is still in its earliest stages, with community consultation set to start soon, but construction is pencilled in for the end of 2025 and commissioning in 2027, says stakeholder relations director Patrick Ragan.

The two new projects are the second and third of four that Green Wind and Aula are collaborating on, with a total energy capacity of 2.4 GW. 

All will connect into Western Australia’s main South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) grid. 

The 600 MW Ambrosia, due to start construction next year and begin commissioning in 2027, will be three times larger than the current bigger wind farm connected into the SWIS, according to Green Wind’s stakeholder relations person Patrick Ragan.

The final of the four is dubbed Banksia, but no details have been released about this one yet. However, it will need to be a 650 MW wind farm to meet the Aula target of 2.4 GW.

Green Wind also has a five project pencilled in on its website, called Mahogany, but no details are available about this one yet. The company has been reluctant to name where upcoming projects are likely to be, as they seek to be the first to break the news to communities rather than community grapevines. 

Large scale wind projects are a novel idea for the Moora shire, to the point that the local council have started building a new land use guiding document to help it with renewables planning applications. 

Local governments across the state have been scrambling to put guidelines in place to protect agricultural industries and communities, as well as to avoid the disasters created by poor community engagement and planning on the east coast. 

GWR is led by Daniel Thompson, who was once the local development officer for Australia’s first real attempt at concentrated solar power, US company Solar Reserve’s ambitious and ultimately unsuccessful 110 MW Port Augusta project.