Winds of change begin to blow

Herald Sun
Tuesday 11/12/2007 Page: 33

INSTALLATION of the first renewable energy power plant since Australia moved to ratify the Kyoto Protocol last week gets under way on Friday at a site near Ballarat leased to a joint venture of Spanish energy giant Acciona Energy and an ANZ Bank investment trust. Acciona managing director Brett Thomas said yesterday the $450 million wind farm would contribute green certificates to help Australia meet its Kyoto obligations from the end of next year.

The earthworks at the Waubra site have already been completed for the 128 turbines that will have the capacity to generate 192 megawatts of electricity, making it the biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere. Singapore-owned Keppell Prince Engineering will deliver the first section of a steel tower from its Portland factory to Waubra later this week by road. Acciona announced yesterday it had awarded a $50 million contract to Keppell Prince to supply and install half of the turbines, with the balance of the project going to a Tasmanian company.

Ratifying Kyoto means the momentum created by the Victorian Renewable Energy Target to stimulate investment in wind energy will now carry over into the future," Mr Thomas said. The Waubra Wind Farm project was initiated under VRET, but in a broader sense it will help fulfil federal Labor's ability and commitment to meet its ultimate Kyoto target." The project is expected to displace about 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Mr Thomas estimated that if carbon is still trading around $40 a tonne when the wind farm is finished, revenue of about $24 million will be generated through carbon emissions trading alone. Half of that revenue would go to the energy infrastructure trust managed by ANZ Bank that owns 50 per cent of the Waubra Wind Farm project. Acciona said the new federal government policy requiring electricity retailers to buy 20 per cent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020 would boost the company's confidence in rolling out up to four new wind farms it was considering, in addition to the three it already has approval to start.

Keppell Prince general manager Steve Garner said his company had also received a boost from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's commitment to carbon emission and renewable energy targets. Keppell Prince expects 60 per cent of its business next year will come from the renewable energy sector as it turns out three towers a week for Acciona. It plans to employ another 40 to 50 people to add to its 100-strong wind tower workforce in February.

Mr Garner said the wind industry had experienced long gaps between projects as government policies on renewable energy had waxed and waned. "It's been tumultuous for a long time and we have had to carry a lot of employees while we waited for the next order, because it was cheaper than firing and hiring again." He said about 8000 tonnes of steel from Bluescope Steel would be used to build the towers which will be up to 80 metres tall.

Acciona is the largest developer, owner and operator of wind farms in the world, with 164 wind farms in nine countries representing over 4500 megawatts of wind energy installed or under construction. In Australia, it operates a 66MW wind farm jointly with Roaring 40s at Cathedral Rocks in South Australia, and has approval to build a 50MW wind farm at Woodlawn, NSW, and a 24MW wind farm at Berrimal, Victoria.