Owner of W.A.’s biggest wind farm eyes another 1.7 GW across five new projects

Collgar Renewables, which owns operates the largest wind farm in Western Australia, has unveiled plans for up to five new wind projects with a potential combined capacity of 1.7GW.

Originally named after the 222MW Collgar Wind Farm before rebranding to Collgar Renewables, the Perth headquartered clean energy developer and operator announced plans for several new wind energy projects aimed to meet expected demand growth over the next 20 years.

The Collgar wind farm began operations near Merredin in the state’s wheatbelt region in late-2011 and produces 800GWh of clean electricity each year, enough to power the equivalent of up to 160,000 homes. It remains the biggest in the state, with the closest competitor being the Yandin wind farm to the north

Collgar Renewables is now wholly owned by the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (Rest), one of Australia’s largest profit-to-member super funds.

The new plans were first unveiled by the company at a conference in Perth late last week, and have been followed up by a statement, although there is no indication of exactly where or what the projects would be.

It comes as the state looks to ramp up investment in wind, solar and storage with the last of its coal fired generators due to close by the end of the decade, and as industry pushes for lower cost and low emissions technologies to meet international demand for low carbon products.

A number of new renewable energy developers have emerged in recent months, although more transmission will be needed to support the developments.

Collgar said more information about its own project plans would emerge “in the coming months” and that the projects would be “located in areas where there is a significant wind resource and that complement the existing renewable energy capacity currently in the [South West Interconnected System (SWIS)].”

“Collgar’s development pipeline is important in supporting the state government in achieving its renewable energy targets and in meeting the needs of our customers” said Sam Pearce, the newly installed CEO of Collgar.

“The team from Collgar has deep power market expertise gained from developing and operating the existing wind farm in Merredin, and this knowledge makes Collgar well placed to ensure a streamlined development and approval pathway to bring these projects to life.

“We also have strong working relationships with community and critical stakeholders in our project areas, and these groups are being consulted as part of our development program.”