South Australia’s first ever wind farm is being constructed at Starfish Hill by Danish company NEG Micon for the electricity corporation Tarong Energy.
The 35.5MW Starfish Hill wind farm plant will comprise of 23 wind turbines and will be the biggest wind farm in Australia.
Tarong Energy, a Queensland Government owned electricity generation corporation, are investing $65 million into the project, which will be located north of Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia.
The Starfish Hill project is Tarong’s first wind energy venture. The corporation also operates a pumped storage hydro-electric plant at Wivenhoe, Queensland.
The major contractors on the Starfish Hill project are South Australian electricity distributor, ETSA Utilities and wind turbine suppliers, NEG Micon.
ETSA Utilities will design, construct and operate a new 25-kilometre, 66-kilovolt transmission line and substation works. All power cables associated with the wind farm site will be underground and the only aboveground structures at the wind farm will be the wind turbines.
A 33kV underground cable will link the wind farm to the Cape Jervis substation and there will be undergrounding of the transmission line in the residential zone of the Yankalilla township.
NEG Micon will deliver the turbines during the course of this year.
Tarong Energry estimates that the project will involve employment for up to 80 people during the construction phase. The plant is due to be fully operational by Autumn 2003.
South Australia’s Energy Minister, Patrick Conlon, announced the approval for the project in May 2002.
“This project will establish South Australia as a leader in large-scale renewable energy production in Australia”, he said.
Starfish Hill will provide enough renewable energy for 18,000 South Australian households. It will reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide during its 25-year life span.