Owner of one of last coal generators in WA joins plans to build biggest wind farm in state

The Perth-based company behind plans to develop a 2 gigawatt offshore wind farm 40km off the Western Australia coast has joined forces with a subsidiary of Japanese giant Sumitomo Corporation to develop a 300 megawatt onshore wind farm in the state’s south west region.

Wind with Purpose (WwP) said on Tuesday that it has partnered with Quenda Wind Power (QWP) to support the development of the Marradong wind farm, planned for south-east of Boddington. It would be the largest in the state if built now.

QWP is a wholly owned subsidiary of Summit Southern Cross Power, in turn owned by Sumitomo Corporation, with plans to develop and operate wind farms through WA’s Southern Scarp region, close to large industrial loads.

Sumitomo currently has 49.99% stake in the only privately owned coal plant in WA, the Bluewaters Power Station, and in the NewGen Power Kwinana Power Station – a 320 megawatt (MW) gas plant on the state’s main grid, the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS).

The plan is to expand on Sumitomo’s existing assets in the SWIS with renewables, starting with studies and monitoring to determine the development options in the Southern Scarp, which QWP says could host is in excess of 2GW of wind generation capacity.

QWP says the Marradong wind project, if it goes ahead, should be completed by 2029, ahead of the anticipated closure date at the end of the decade of the last of the state’s coal fired power generators, which are all based around Collie.

WwP, which is developing the proposed 2GW Catalpa Offshore Wind Farm in partnership with UK-based Barrington Energy and the Gnaala Karla Booja Aboriginal Corporation (GKB) on, says it signed an agreement to collaborate on the Marradong wind farm in June last year.

“Located in Western Australia’s South West region, this project is designed to decarbonise industries by supplying green energy,” WwP says in a statement.

“The Project will also create new economic opportunities and benefits for the South West community.”

WwP says it plans to use the Marradong project as a spearhead to grow its global wind portfolio, with plans to develop more than 5.5 GW in wind farms across WA and Ireland by 2034.