Wind powering ahead for Tasmania.

Sunday Examiner
Sunday, 12 March 2006

Wind power is set to be a big part of Tasmania’s future - Helen Kempton reports.

CONSTRUCTION of the third and final stage of what will be the biggest wind energy project in the Southern Hemisphere has begun on the buffeted plains of Tasmania’s far North-West tip.

By the end of the year Tasmania’s sole wind farm will boast 62 turbines and generate enough energy to power all the houses in a city the size of Launceston.

Roaring 40s a joint venture between Hydro Tasmania and ChinaLight and Power has taken over the $175 million Woolnorth Wind Farm project. And the man steering the development of its final stage regards the historic grazing property as "God’s own country in terms of both wind power and natural beauty.

"This is a Class A site one of the best in the world," Roaring 40s senior project manager Michael Gilmore said as he surveyed the Studland Bay construction site last week. "All we take from this beautiful place is the wind."

The hilly coastline of Woolnorth is the first land the prevailing westerly winds known as the Roaring 40s touch on their journey across the Southern Ocean from Cape Horn - 20,000km away. And the winds which power the turbines have been labelled the cleanest in the world by the nearby Cape Grim air monitoring station.

So how do companies exploring renewable energy projects pinpoint the best places to capture the power of the wind?

"There is a wind atlas of the world which can be used as a guide," Mr Gilmore said. "But you don’t have to be a genius to know there will be wind in the Roaring 40s pattern. A solar-powered wind monitoring tower also provides the company with data. A wind farm naturally needs wind to operate but not the gale force winds the public might imagine.

In ideal circumstances the turbine blades would rotate 21 times a minute and the turbines at Woolnorth are in full production about 50 per cent of the time. Wind speeds of between 8 and 50 knots (15-95kmh) are okay but winds above 60 knots will stop the blades rotating.

"What we need is a constant wind Mr Gilmore said. "And space between the turbines so they can shed wind if needed. There are also days when there is no wind. "Like the grand opening of stage two for instance when the blades were perfectly still," he said with a wry smile.

Roaring 40s was formed in October last year to explore renewable energy options in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The company has wind farm developments in Australia, New Zealand, China - where it is constructing a 49MW wind farm at Shuangliao - and is moving into India.

Roaring 40s is worth $220 million and expected to grow to $1 billion by 2010 "Wind power is the current hot technology," managing director Mark Kelleher said. "And with the size of the market in India and China there is huge potential out of Australia.

"China has set a wind energy target of 30 gigawatts - that is the size of the total Australian energy market, but unfortunately while other parts of the world are embracing wind technology Australia’s initial strong support is plateauing out and there will be no more projects developed after 2008 unless this changes.

"In the meantime we decided to get out and build on other opportunities." To build the Woolnorth Wind Farm Roaring 40s bought 3000ha from Van Dieman Land Company in two lots. It now leases that land back to VDL for a peppercorn rent.

Woolnorth Wind Farm does not feel like an energy project in the traditional sense. There are no billowing smoke plumes, no concrete dams. Cows graze contentedly in what has become a construction village and trucks wait as the animals walk up the new access roads to water tanks or new pasture.

Wind farms are considered an eyesore in some parts of Australia. But there is something natural about their placement on these remote windswept hills. "Objections to wind farm developments usually revolve around the visual impact of the towers," Mr Gilmore said.

"You can’t hide them, you certainly can’t miss them. But out here they almost complement the landscape. About 35,000 other people a year agree with Mr Gilmore and tour the Woolnorth property.

Contractor Areva-Hazell Brothers has moved on-site and already 35 people are working as part of the early construction phase with numbers set to peak at 100 toward the end of the project.

Thirty-seven turbines are already paying a graceful choreographed tribute to the power of the prevailing westerly winds at Bluff Point. And by the end of the year they will be joined by another 25 bigger but more powerful dancers at nearby Studland Bay. Complete, the wind farm will generate 140MW.

The power of the turbines is impressive. The Vestas V66 blades on the turbines at Bluff Point are more powerful than those on a jumbo jet. The V90 blades which will be erected on top of the 80m high turbines at Studland Bay are bigger, slower and more powerful again in terms of electricity generation.

"The renewable energy sector is moving so quickly," Mr Gilmore said. "By the time we had erected the V66 turbines in stage one and two they had been superseded by the V90.

"Wind farms have a nominal life of 20 years - anything could happen in that time. Inside the nacelle on the top of the tower is the machinery which converts the energy of the wind into electricity. Cables carry the power underground to a switchyard which then feeds it into overhead lines which carry the electricity to Smithton, Port Latta and the wider Tasmanian power grid. Most is then used by the local domestic market.

The concrete foundations which will support the turbines are already under construction at Studland Bay and should be finished by July. Each foundation involves 450 cubic metres of concrete which will be all batched on site and will take 10 hours to pour.

Woolnorth is one of several staged windpower developments planned for Tasmania. King Island already has five turbines which supply power locally.

Work is scheduled to start on the Musselroe wind project in the North-East when Woolnorth is complete The proposed $230 million Musselroe wind farm has been given its final environmental approvals. When completed the wind farm will have a generating capacity of 129MW enough to supply up to 50,000 homes.

Roaring 40s will then turn its attention to Heemskirk near Granville Harbour on the West Coast where it is planning the construction of a 140MW wind farm.