Hallett wind farm; more Australian wind farm photos and international wind farm photos

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Introduction

In 2008 South Australia had, according to the SA Electricity Supply Industry Planning Council (ESIPC) annual report, "one of the three highest penetrations of wind generation with respect to installed capacity world wide", it also has huge potential for further wind farm development.

Before 2003 there was only one large wind turbine in South Australia: a 150kW unit at Coober Pedy. As of June 2009 there was 740 MW of operational wind farm capacity in South Australia: Starfish Hill, Wattle Point, Cathedral Rocks, Mount Millar, Lake Bonney Stage 1, Canunda, Hallett Stage 1, Lake Bonney Stage 2 and Snowtown. A further 126MW is under construction: Hallett Stage 2 and Clements Gap. Actual wind generation figures, from ESIPC, are graphed below.

Very limited government support

The Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) has placed conditions on new wind farms that are good for the power transmission operators but expensive and difficult for wind farm operators to fulfil. The Rann SA government is not as supportive of sustainable energy as is claims to be, rather it is opportunistic. For example, Victoria and NSW both have publicly available wind resource maps, but there is no public wind resource map of SA. SA is well suited to wind farms and the Rann government is attempting to take credit for development that is being stimulated by interstate mandatory renewable energy targets.

The NSW and Victorian governments have legislated large mandatory renewable energy targets. These will make electricity retailers buy significant percentages of renewable energy. For NSW to fulfil its commitment to renewable energy it will have to buy wind generated electricity from SA - SA has a better wind resource than NSW (see Wind Power Potential in Oz. The SA government will deviously try to take credit for the upsurge due to the new demand from NSW.

Growth of the SA wind industry

In 2004 there was more than 2000 MW of proposed new wind farm development in South Australia, but it could not go ahead under Howard government policies.

Over the past decade worldwide wind energy generation capacity has been increasing by 25% per year while wind energy prices have been falling by 4% per year.

The Australian Wind Energy Association (AusWEA) produced a map in May 2004 showing that of all federal electorates in Australia Grey had by far the greatest capacity of proposed wind farms. The adjacent electorate Wakefield was second. The map showed that there were 1250MW proposed in Grey and 440MW in the adjacent Wakefield. Roughly speaking, Grey includes 90% of SA, and everything north and west of Port Pirie (all of the proposed wind farms are south of Port Augusta); Wakefield included Yorke Peninsula and points east to the border.

Since then there has been an electoral redistribution. The new, larger Grey now includes all of Yorke Peninsula. Most, if not all, of the 440MW of proposed wind farms of the old Wakefield would now be in Grey, increasing the Grey total to around 1690MW.

The lower two sections have been erected for these Brown Hill Range turbines. Two more tower sections to go, followed by the turbine itself. 2007/12/12

Wind, at the present, is the only economically competitive form of sustainable energy ready to take a significant part of the load. Using biological waste and methane from land-fill to generate electricity is feasible and is being done, but its capacity is limited. It is looking like solar thermal and 'hot dry rock' geothermal is close to being competitive, but these are not ready yet and will take many years to 'scale-up' to the point where they are major sources of energy. Wave-power, photovoltaics, harnessing algae to produce fuels, and other alternatives seem further away. A decade or two could change that picture.

Certainly wind power is not 'the answer' to climate change. Only a naive person would believe that there is a single answer, and only a naive person would object to wind power because it is not 'the answer'. It is a part of 'the answer'. Other parts are energy conservation, technological innovation, development of other forms of sustainable energy, and education. (I have listed some suggestions in What should be done.)

If the logic in the few sentences above is correct, then wind power must be developed to the maximum reasonable degree and as quickly as possible. Wind farms could be built along most of the west-facing coasts of South Australia. That is, from near Ceduna to Coffin Bay on Eyre Peninsula, along much of the west coast of Yorke Peninsula and from around Meningie to Port MacDonald in the South East. Wind turbines could be built along many of the major rounded north-south ridges of the Mount Lofty Ranges and the Southern Flinders Ranges.

I would hope and expect that national parks and conservation parks would be kept free of wind farm developments.

Will we get sick of the sight of wind turbines? Quite possibly. The alternatives, it seems to me, are either to throw caution (and sanity) to the wind and continue with fossil fuels, or to totally change our life-styles and enormously cut down on the amount of energy that we use, in our personal lives and in industry. I cannot imagine our society being ready or willing to do that.

Wind farms in SA
(Locality in brackets)

Wind farms by region

Barn Hill wind farm (Red Hill, Mundoora)

Stanwell Corporation, sold their interest in Barn Hill to Transfield Services Infrastructure in December 2007 and on 2009/06/18 AGL Energy Limited announced that it had acquired the rights to Barn Hill wind farm.

Transfield held public meetings at Redhill and Mundoora to discuss development of the wind farm in June 2008; they submitted a Development Application to the Port Pirie and Wakefield councils in September 2008 and this was approved in late January 2009.

The Barn Hill wind farm, if it is built rather than simply being sold from one potential developer to another, will fill the space along the Barunga Range between Clements Gap and Snowtown wind farms. (That is, from the Hope Gap Road in the south to the Torrs Gap Road in the north.)

Further information on Barn Hill wind farm
Estimated average wind speed	8.3m/sec.

A 'referral' giving more information on the proposal can be downloaded from the EPBC (Federal Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) site. (Search under Referrals and public notices.)

I would like to thank Terry Teoh of Pacific Hydro for much of the above information.

News

Hallett wind farms

As of April 2009 the biggest wind farm in Australia is Lake Bonney (SA) at 240MW, second is Waubra (Vic) at 192MW, and third is Woolnorth (Tas) at 140MW. Brown Hill wind farm is operational, Hallett Hill is under construction, and both Mt Bryan and North Brown Hill look certain to be built. The four of these Hallett wind farms combined will have a capacity of 361MW.

Wind turbines on Brown Hill Range at sunrise. Booborowie Valley on the left. Brown Hill Range is one of the Hallett wind farms.

The Hallett wind farms are a group of six, five of which were originally proposed by Wind Prospect; all are in the area around Hallett and Mt Bryan, north of Burra. The sixth, North Brown Hill wind farm, was added later. They are all around 170km north of Adelaide. The originally proposed five developments aimed to have an output capacity of about 320MW produced by 160 two-megawatt turbines.

Map of the Hallett wind farm locations (and proposed locations) Acknowledgment, AGL, April 2009

Bluff Range wind farm

"AGL is also evaluating development of The Bluff wind farm comprising about 45 MW and located adjacent to Hallett power station."

Brown Hill Range wind farm

The first Hallett turbine; from Bundaleer forest

A company named Wind Prospect first proposed the farm and did initial work on assessing the wind resource and planning a possible layout.

The turbines are Suzlon S88 2.1MW machines and the farm was constructed by Suzlon. The Suzlon parent company is based in Pune, India.

For an interactive map and/or directions to Brown Hill Range go to ExplorOz.

Bendan Ryan (of Suzlon) informed me that they used Brett Lane and Associates of Melbourne for bird and bat monitoring. Lane et al apparently wrote the wind industry's 'best practice' recommendations for bird and bat monitoring.

I must express my thanks to Peter Reed and Brendan Ryan of Suzlon for their help in keeping me informed and showing me around this wind farm.

Hallett Hill wind farm

The lower half of some of the turbines towers in place – 2009/02/13

Working on the works depot for Hallett Hill wind farm 2008/08/25 Several turbines completed Photogaphed from Clare, 40km away 2009/04/01

I believe the tube sections are being manufactured in Adelaide.

A copy of AGL's location map is above; for an interactive map and/or directions to Hallett Hill go to ExplorOz.

Hallett Hill wind farm is about 15km South of Hallett and a very few kilometres west of the township of Mount Bryan.

ABC on-line news, 2008/08/29, reported that:

"Energy company AGL has sold its wind farm near Burra in the mid-north of South Australia in a deal it says is worth $59 million. Energy Infrastructure Trust will own the Hallett Hill wind farm and fund the rest of the project's construction. But AGL will operate and maintain the wind farm and buy all the electricity produced."

The wind farm is being constructed by Suzlon using Suzlon S88v3 turbines.

North Brown Hill wind farm

Willogoleche Hill wind farm

Lake Bonney wind farms

In the Southeast of South Australia near Millicent, this wind farm follows a line of stabilised sand dunes parallel to the coast, in a NW-SE direction. The owner was Babcock and Brown Wind Partners, more recently N.P. Power and Infagen Energy. Combined capacity of the first two stages is 239.5MW and when the third stage is completed the total will be 278.5MW. Lake Bonney Stage 1 wind farm | Lake Bonney Stage 2 wind farm | Lake Bonney Stage 3 wind farm

Lake Bonney Stage 1 wind farm

Status	# Turbines	MW each	Total MW	Completed	Lat	Long
Operating	46	1.75	80.5	March 2005	S 37.71°	E 140.38°

Wind turbines of Canunda/Lake Bonney

Lake Bonney photos, notes on visiting.

Lake Bonney Stage 2 wind farm

Status	# Turbines	MW each	Total MW	Completed	Lat	Long
Operating	53	3	159	September 2008	S 37.81°	E 140.41°

This wind farm commenced full commercial operation in September 2008.

Myponga/Sellicks Hill wind farm

Shortly after it being reported that construction would start in early 2010 the South Australian Government announced that it has refused to vary major development approval of a wind farm (Trust Power wanted to build taller towers, 110m high). Subsequently Trust Power stated they would drop the project. This all happened in late August, early September 2009.

Robertstown wind farm

Stony Gap wind farm

The viability of this wind farm is under investigation by Tasmania-based Roaring 40s, who have a page on the project. It was earlier reported that this and Robertstown wind farm were to be extensions of Waterloo wind farm, but in fact Roaring 40s are treating all three as separate projects. I was informed by Chris Chad of Roaring 40s that this wind farm is likely to be a little larger than Waterloo.

The above data were from Research Institute for Sustainable Energy, (RISE).

Wattle Point Stage 2 wind farm

Alternatively known as Troubridge Point wind farm

This was proposed to be a 25MW wind farm near the present Wattle Point farm. At least to October 2008 it has not been built. The hold up seems to be the lack of capacity in the transmission lines.

Following an inquiry I sent to the District Council of Yorke Peninsula I received the following by email...

Please be advised that Council have approved of a second wind farm near Wattle Point a couple of years ago, however, the development has not proceeded due to the fact that there is insufficient capacity in the transmission lines to accommodate additional power loadings.

Until such time that there is an extensive up grade to the existing transmission lines, which would cost the state government millions of dollars, the development will not occur.

I trust that this information answers you enquiry.

Regards,
ROGER S BROOKS
ACTING DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY SERVICES
District Council of Yorke Peninsula
roger.brooks@yorke.sa.gov.au
www.yorke.sa.gov.au

So it seems yet again that a wind farm development that could happen is not going to happen because of lack of the needed government support, in this case, state government support.

Woakwine Range wind farm

Infigen has a pdf file on its 'Australian development pipeline' that mentions the project.

The power transmission network in the region is already strugling to handle the load from the existing wind farms; it will need substantial development before this project can be brought online.

World's End wind farm

Until a wind farm gets at least to the point where an application for approval has been submitted to the relevant authority it may be little more than wishful thinking and is not worth covering in more detail than that below.

Wind farms in this section (Locality)
Brown Hill Range (Hallett) Canunda (Millicent) Cathedral Rocks (Port Lincoln) Lake Bonney (Millicent)	Mount Millar (Cleve/Cowell) Snowtown Starfish Hill (Cape Jervis) Wattle Point (Edithburgh)

All wind farm turbines in SA are on private land. While you can often get quite close to some turbines via public roads, there will be others that cannot be approached except by crossing private land.

In my experience most farmers are very reasonable and will not object if you walk onto a property a short distance from a boundary fence, leave gates as you find them, are considerate of livestock, and do not go near sheds or homesteads without asking permission. I suggest not driving onto private land without permission. Most land-owners would prefer you to ask permission before entering on their land at all, but it is very often difficult to know who owns what land and where he/she lives. If you meet anyone, politely explain what you are doing.

I would appreciate information that would allow me to improve this section, for example, further information on local accommodation options.

Visiting Brown Hill Range wind farm, Hallett As of January 2008 the lower half of all towers were erected and 23 turbines were completed. Location On a north/south trending ridge about 15km east of Hallett. Accommodation Possibly a hotel at Hallett. There is a caravan and camping park as well as hotel, a motor inn, and numerous cottages in Burra, 33km south of Hallett. Mount Bryan has a hotel that provided accommodation, about 20km south of Hallett. There are hotel/motels and at least one caravan park at Jamestown, which is about 20km north-west of the wind farm site. Accessibility Either to Booborowie then north, or Hallett and then the Jamestown road, or Jamestown, then the Hallett road. The site is southwest of 'Old Canowie' homestead on the Jamestown-Hallett road. Only unsealed roads go close to the site. At least three unsealed public roads cross the ridge on which the wind farm is located. All of these connect with the unsealed road that goes from 'Old Canowie' to Booborowie. Photography notes The best views available from public roads would be from the unsealed roads that cross the ridge. To go onto the private roads one should arrange permission from Suzlon (try telephoning 0448 871 875) or one of the land owners.

Visiting Canunda and Lake Bonney, wind farms, Millicent Canunda and Lake Bonney Stage one are fully operational, Lake Bonney Stage two is under construction (as of mid-2007). Location South and west of Millicent in the South East of South Australia Accommodation Millicent is the closest large town. It has varied accommodation including hotel(s), motel(s), a good caravan park with cabins. Dogs are permitted in the caravan park. Accessibility Good, mainly unsealed, roads pass around and through the two wind farms. Photography notes This is one of the most photogenic of SA's wind farms. The many vantage points afforded by the several roads around the wind farms give lots of opportunities. The turbines are on a low ridge and there are views over the nearby Lake Bonney in places. If you want to cross any of the private land you will need to decide for yourself how you go about it.

Visiting Cathedral Rocks wind farm, Port Lincoln Fully operational Location On the south coast of Eyre Peninsula, about 20km south of Port Lincoln Accommodation Port Lincoln is one of South Australia's largest provincial cities, is a tourist destination, and has plentiful and varied accommodation, including hotels, motels, home-stays, b&bs, and camping grounds. Accessibility You cannot get closer than 10km or so to Cathedral Rocks without crossing private land. Photography notes The lack of accessibility makes Cathedral Rocks the least photographable wind farm of all those in SA. The turbines can just be seen from the top of Winter's Hill, Port Lincoln, but you would need a good telephoto lens to get a mediocre photo.

Visiting Mount Millar wind farm, Cowell-Cleve Fully operational Location In the hills between Cowell and Cleve on northern Eyre Peninsula Accommodation Caravan parks at Cowell, motels at Cowell and Cleve. Accessibility Sealed road part way from either Cleve or Cowell, then unsealed roads. Roughly equal distances from either of these towns (25-30km). Photography notes There is only one road well placed for photographing; it runs most of the length of the wind farm and is very close to some of the turbines. The turbines are on the top of one of the highest ridges in the area, the land is mostly cleared but there is some scrub. There is a viewing area very close to the base of one turbine.

Home Wind home Top SA wind farms Index

Visiting Snowtown wind farm Operating Location On the range of hills west of Lochiel and Snowtown about 130km north of Adelaide on the Port Augusta road Accommodation Motel at Lochiel. Hotel and caravan park at Snowtown. Accessibility Photography notes

Visiting Starfish Hill wind farm Some of the Starfish Hill turbines with a sea mist   Starfish Hill turbines - these on Salt Creek Hill - silhouetted against Saint Vincent Gulf Fully operational Location At the south-western end of Fleurieu Peninsula, between Cape Jervis and Second Valley Accommodation Caravan park at Second Valley (allows dogs), cabins at Sunset Cove Resort, holiday units at Cape Jervis. Accessibility Sealed road then unsealed roads from Cape Jervis and Second Valley. There is a viewing area very close to the base of one turbine. The turbines are on two ridges - the higher is Starfish Hill, the lower is Salt Creek Hill - overlooking Saint Vincent Gulf. The two hills are accessed from separate unsealed roads running off the main (sealed) Cape Jervis road. Photography notes There are 8 turbines on Starfish hill and 15 on Salt Creek Hill. Starfish hill provides the best photographic opportunities from near the roads. Trees can provide a useful foreground on Salt Creek Hill. The Salt Creek turbines can be silhouetted against the sea if you photograph from Starfish Hill. Sea-mists can give a useful atmosphere.

Visiting Wattle Point wind farm Fully operational Location A few kilometres south-west of Edithburgh on the southern extremity of Yorke Peninsula Accommodation Caravan parks at Edithburgh and Coobowie. Hotel and motel at Edithburgh. Cabin/units at both Edithburgh and Coobowie. Accessibility Sealed road to Edithburgh, then several unsealed roads pass through the wind farm, which is on flat ground. Photography notes The topography is flat, but various shrubs, trees and wind-pumps can provide useful foregrounds.

Ken Jack of Stanwell (the proposers of Barn Hill wind farm, Red Hill - Wandearah area) kindly informed me of the wind velocities that he recorded. As some wind farm operators treat their wind velocity records as confidential, it would be unfair for me to publish the exact figure here. However, I can say that the strongest gust was well below the sort of wind that might be expected to bring down a wind turbine.

2009/06/04

2009/02/03

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