One of Australia’s oldest wind farms turns 20 today, and will live on for another decade

The 46 megawatt (MW) Canunda wind farm in South Australia – one of the oldest in the country – is celebrating its 20th birthday today (Monday, March 31), and its owners and operators say it will live on for at least another decade.

The Engie-owned wind farm was completed in 2005 with 2MW turbines, relatively small by today’s standards but which were some of the largest in Australia at the time.

It was given a 20-year life, but it is now expected to last another 10 years, before a decision is made about either decommission the project, or repowering it with bigger and more efficient modern turbines.

According to Canunda site manager Josh Wight, who works for site operator Vestas, many of the original installation crew are still working on the site,

“Many of the original site staff have developed their skills and moved on to great roles within Vestas, both locally and nationally. It’s great to see this cycle of skill development and growth continuing,” he said in a statement.

“It takes real ownership of both the turbines and the farm, and a strong, united team who share the vision. Equally important is the feeling of being invested in, which drives ongoing success.”

Vestas supplied the Canunda turbines and locally assembled nacelles, which it says were installed with the help of Australia’s biggest crane at the time, a 600-tonne machine.

Today, these machines weigh upwards of 1000 tonnes.

Canunda and its neighbour, the 279 MW Iberdrola-owned Lake Bonney wind farm (and battery), are part of the first wave of wind farms whose owners will need to decide whether to decommission, as Pacific Blue has chosen to do with the Coddrington wind farm, or repower.

Repowering is not simply refurbishing the machines, as Hydro Tasmania is doing at its Huxley Hill wind farm on King Island.

It’s a process that involves rebuilding a wind farm with much larger modern turbines, and requires re-permitting and re-siting infrastructure. 

Repowering hasn’t been undertaken in Australia yet, but it is being considered as sites with very high quality wind speeds begin to come to the end of their lives, such as Canunda, and it’s a possibility owners are likely to be canvassing – despite the complexity it involves. 

The mini-by-modern-standards turbines at Cabinda, which tip heights of just 107 metres, work best at a high wind speed of 13 m/s.

That compares to modern turbines which are being engineering to be much, much larger to generate power from lower wind speeds. 

“When Canunda was commissioned in 2005, it was expected to have a 20-year operational life. Rather than retire the project, we’ve been able to push its operational lifespan to 2035,” Engie renewables managing director Laura Caspari said in a statement.

Vestas Australia and New Zealand head Danny Nielsen says the two decade milestone is not just about the technology proving itself, but also the people who have kept it going. 

“From the original installation crew, many of whom are still working on-site after two decades, to the team of local service professionals who keep the turbines running safely and efficiently, this success is built on the skilled, trades workforce that makes the clean energy transition possible.”