28 turbines up, 100 more to go

Ballarat Courier
Friday 16/5/2008 Page: 1

CHANCES are you've seen many turbines going up on the hills north-west of Ballarat. This week, the 28th turbine was erected at Waubra Wind Farm, with 100 more to go. Already, the locals are planning a festival to mark the wind farm's opening next year. Works are going well according to Acciona Energy construction manager Bruce Payne, but have depended on the weather. "During March and April, it was unseasonably windy, which posed the biggest challenge to the works," Mr Payne said.

This hasn't stopped works developing rapidly, as the farm extends across a 160km radius, encompassing the outskirts of Learmonth and Evansford. Local businesses are also happy. The works have brought more trading to Waubra, with the local store even extending its trading hours. Currently, the electrical and cabling works are being installed at various sites. Five sub-stations are being built, with underground cabling works 40 per cent complete.

More than 120km of cabling is needed for the project, and has been engineered to maximise the electrical current. Mr Payne said cabling had been laid almost a metre underground, so it wouldn't interfere with local farming operations. Laid along with the cabling will be a system providing realtime data to the maintenance facility, detailing wind speed at the turbines, its direction and what electricity is being produced.

Meanwhile, works on the Harrisons Rd maintenance facility are expected to be completed in three months. The facility is being built using sustainable materials. It will be fully powered with wind energy, be solar heated and use water recycling. Mr Payne said the next task was to get all the substations completed and turbines erected, ready for connection to the grid early next year.