The Waubra wind farm is located on both sides of the
Sunraysia Highway 35 km north-west of
Ballarat in
Victoria, Australia
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...
. Upon its completion in July 2009, it was the largest wind farm in Australia and was the largest wind farm by number of turbines and total capacity in the southern hemisphere.
Consisting of 128 wind turbines, with associated substations and an operations centre, each
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...
has a capacity of 1.5
megawatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...
(MW). The total installed capacity is 192 MW.
The turbines have a tip height of 119 metres,
rotor diameter of 77 metres
and a hub height of 80 metres. Annually the farm is projected to generate 630 GWh of energy over the life of the project,
for an annual capacity factor of 37.5%.
The green energy generated by the wind farm each year provides electricity for 138,000 households enough to power a city 3-4 times the size of Ballarat.
Acciona Energy
Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energy, produces 21 te ...
formed a Community Reference Group (CRG) for the construction phase of the Waubra wind farm, to provide a regular forum for community input to the project and to facilitate communication between members of the Waubra community and the wind farm project team. In 2010 the anti-wind farm lobby group the
Waubra Foundation
The Waubra Foundation is an Australian lobby that opposes wind farms and promotes the controversial wind turbine syndrome. The foundation was created by Peter Mitchell, a director of several oil and gas companies. The foundation describes itself as ...
adopted the name of the nearby town.
The construction of the Waubra wind farm received financial assistance as part of the Victorian State government's Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET).
In July 2011 the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
4 Corners program explored health concerns connected with Australian wind farms in it
Against the Windreport. The Waubra wind farm and the community living around it was featured in the report.
A viewing platform designed by Melbourne-based firm JOH Architects
is accessible to tourists and located just off the Sunraysia Highway.
Operations
The generation table use
eljmkt nemlogto obtain generation values for each month.
Note: Records date back to 2011.
See also
*
List of wind farms in Victoria
*
Wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...
*
Wind power in Australia
Wind power is one of the main renewable energy sources in Australia contributing 10% of Australia's total electricity supply in 2020, and making up 37.5% of it's renewable energy supply. Wind resource testing conditions in Australia are opti ...
References
External links
*
Wind farms in VictoriaJOH Architects
{{coord, 37, 19, 32, S, 143, 36, 32, E, region:AU-VIC_type:landmark, display=title
Wind farms in Victoria (Australia)