First electricity has been delivered to Victoria’s grid from the southern hemisphere’s biggest wind farm after TagEnergy’s 1.3GW Golden Plains Wind Farm near Geelong commenced operations.
The first turbines have started spinning at the 756MW Stage 1 of the $4 billion mega-project that will eventually deliver 9% of Victoria’s energy—enough to power 765,000 homes, or every home in regional Victoria.
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The first power export from Golden Plains Wind Farm follows 20 months of construction by a workforce of more than 400 across civil, electrical, turbine and grid connection works.
The project’s engineering, procurement and construction partner Vestas is supplying and installing all 215 turbines that stand 149m high with 79m blades.
“TagEnergy’s ambition is to accelerate the energy transition and that is what we have done today as Golden Plains Wind Farm starts sending electricity to the grid and providing clean power to the people of Victoria. I am proud of, and grateful to, our team and project partners whose dedication and expertise is helping to safely and efficiently deliver this vital project that will strengthen Victoria’s energy security, put downward pressure on power bills and abate carbon emissions to keep us on track for net-zero,” TagEnergy CEO Franck Woitiez said.
“Throughout the project’s development, we were buoyed by the confidence those at the forefront of the energy transition showed in TagEnergy’s ability to deliver large-scale renewables projects, from our lenders to the Victorian and Australian Governments and the Australian Energy Market Operator.
Related article: First power exported from Australia’s largest wind farm
“We have shown our innovative commercial approach brings large scale projects to life faster. We will continue to innovate to deliver more projects to speed the transition, and the Government’s supportive policy landscape will facilitate that,” he said.
In September EnergyAustralia entered into a landmark 10-year renewable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with TagEnergy to offtake 40% of Stage 2’s capacity.
