Warradarge wind farm to add another 30 turbines, take lead as ‘state’s largest’

One of Western Australia’s largest wind farms is set to become the state’s largest, with the announcement that another 30 turbines will be added to the 180 megawatt (MW) Warradarge wind farm, taking it to a total capacity of 283 MW.

The $400 million expansion has been confirmed by Bright Energy Investments, a joint venture between Synergy, Cbus Super and CVC DIF. The developers say $30 million has been committed to the project by the WA government as part of its $5.7 billion clean energy future investment.

The Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract has been awarded to Danish wind giant Vestas, which will supply and install the new turbines at the project in Western Australia’s mid-west region.

Decmil, who completed the civil construction and balance of plant work for Stage 1 of the project and has recently been acquired by Macmahon, was again awarded the civil work through a $47 million contract.

Warradarge Stage 1 began construction in January 2020 and was completed in October of the same year, boasting 51 wind turbines and a combined capacity of 180 MW.

The Stage 2 expansion of the project when complete will provide 283 MW, which would eclipse the Collgar Wind Farm as the state’s largest, to date, with a capacity of 224 MW.

Interestingly, the turbines constructed for the second stage of the project will be the same size as the first, likely due to limitations set by the project’s original planning approvals. Vestas has also been awarded the contract to build 17 turbines at Synergy’s 105 MW King’s Rock wind farm.

Synergy is expanding its onshore wind portfolio, building on its recent investments in two large-scale batteries in Kwinana and a third currently in construction at Collie.