- The 412 megawatt (MW) Goyder South wind farm, the biggest in South Australia and a landmark project for Australia’s green energy transition, has been inaugurated and is now officially open for business.
Goyder South is the first stage of Neoen’s Goyder Renewables Zone, near Burra in the state’s mid-north, which is emerging as one of the country’s biggest wind, solar and battery hybrid projects.
The wind farm is a landmark for a number of reasons. Firstly, its rich wind resource allowed Neoen in 2020 to sign the lowest publicly announced feed-in tariff ever seen in Australia when it agreed to assign 100 MW of its capacity to the ACT government for just $44.97 a megawatt hour.
That 14-year contract – fixed and with no access to large scale renewable certificates – compares to current asking prices of more than $100/MWh for wind projects, a reflection both of Goyder’s strong wind resource, and the big jump in wind project costs since that time.
Neoen also signed a first of its kind “baseload renewables” contract with BHP for another 200 MW of wind capacity from Goyder South – backed by Neoen’s recently completed Blyth battery – to help power the mining giant’s massive Olympic Dam copper mine and smelter, and nearby operations.
Neoen has since signed a second “baseload renewables” contract with BHP, this time involving 300 MW from the new Goyder North wind project, backed by the soon to be built 200 MW, 800 MWh Goyder battery.
Goyder North is expected to expand to more than 1 GW of wind capacity and up to 900 MW and 3,600 MWh of battery storage, making the combined renewables park the biggest of its type in the country, and underpinning South Australia’s push to 100 per cent “net renewables” and beyond.
“We are well on track for South Australia to meet its goal of 100 per cent net renewables generation by 2027, and projects such as this are at the vanguard of that ambition,” South Australia energy minister Tom Koutsantonis said in a statement.
“Projects like Neoen’s Goyder South Wind Farm highlight the quality of the wind resource here in South Australia, and when combined with abundant solar, it becomes clear why renewable energy companies from around the world are lining up to invest in South Australia.”
Xavier Barbaro, the CEO of Neoen’s Group, now owned by Brookfield following an $11 billion takeover, said projects of this scale and quality enable value to be delivered to governments, customers and community stakeholders.
“They become templates for future solutions, opening up opportunities to further accelerate the energy transition in Australia and in the rest of the world,” Barbaro said.
Goyder South has lifted South Australia’s wind generation by more than 20 per cent, supporting its target of reaching 100 per cent “net” renewables by 2027, and created 400 construction jobs, supported the creation of new national park at the nearby Worlds End Gorge – a first for a renewable project in Australia.
It also delivers $250,000 a year in community programs. But the biggest beneficiaries to date have been the ACT, which receives any surplus profits from its 100 MW of contracted capacity if wholesale electricity prices are higher than the agreed feed-in-tariff.
In the June quarter alone, Goyder South returned $2.9 million to the ACT – an average of 50/MWh – providing the national capital’s electricity customers with a perfect hedge against the rising electricity prices that are affecting almost everyone else in the country.
See: ACT went first and fastest to 100 per cent renewables: It now looks like the smartest policy of all
The prices struck for the BHP contract and another 40 MW contract with electricity retailer Flow Power are not known, but can safely be assumed to be higher than the agreed feed-in tariff with the ACT, which at least gave certainty for the first stage of the project to begin construction.
Goyder South comprises 75 GE 5.5-158 Cypress turbines, and sent its first output to the grid in early 2024, and began delivering on its ACT contract in July, 2024. It started delivering its contract with BHP on schedule in July this year.
Jean-Christophe Cheylus, the CEO of Neoen Australia, described it as a “milestone” project.
“Goyder South is a credit to the world-class wind resources of South Australia and to the team’s leadership in leveraging these to develop high-quality projects.
“I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped bring this wind farm to life – our host landowners, the Governments of South Australia and the ACT, and the Regional Council of Goyder, as well as ElectraNet, AEMO, BHP and Flow Power.”
