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Wind farms in TasmaniaThe author is not beholden to any company, lobby group, or government. * This page created 2008/03/08, modified 2012/01/01 Information about wind farms that I have missed, additional interesting information, or corrections for anything that I have got wrong, would be greatly appreciated. About these pages Contact: email daveclarkecb@yahoo.com |
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| Operating |
While Tasmania has special advantages for wind power, in terms of powering Australia it also has one special disavantage - Bass Strait. There is a power cable beneath the Strait, the Basslink Interconector, but there is still the distance disadvantage. Basslink is the world's longest subsea electricity cable.
The low number of proposed wind farms in Tasmania is puzzling, but it seems probable that the island is unatractive to wind farmers because of its relative isolation from the big electricity markets of the 'northern island'.
I will be pleased to hear from any reader who believes that anything in any of these pages is incorrect or substantially incomplete. Please send details, with appropriate references, to the email address above. Any suggestions on how these pages can be more informative will also be appreciated.
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Cattle Hill Wind Farm
It was expected that the wind farm would be spread over 4000ha on the eastern side of Lake Echo, would have turbines that would reach 125m high, and yet would be visible from only two local residents. Most of the above information came from an article by Phillippa Duncan of The (Tasmanian) Mercury, April 4th 2010.
It was reported in The Mercury on 2011/12/04 that this project has been approved by the EPA; approval is still required from the Federal Government and the Central Highlands Council. The company anticipates that it will be producing power in 2014. |
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Flinders Island Wind FarmI received the following in an email from Peter Kempster (who lives on King Island and manages the wind farm/power station there) on 2009/03/03:"Yes there are two wind turbines on Flinders Island. 1 x 55 kW unit installed in 88 and 1 x 25 kW unit installed in 96. These units are not owned by Hydro Tasmania, they are privately owned and Hydro Tasmania purchase's all the power they produce."
ABC on-line news, November 21, 2007 reported... Hydro Tasmania has secured all the approvals it needs to build up to four wind turbines on Flinders Island. The turbines would produce between 0.9 and 3.4 megawatts of power and cut the the island's reliance on diesel by 30 per cent or about 350,000 litres annually. The Leader of Government Business in the Legislative Council, Doug Parkinson, says Hydro's plans are progressing well. "Hydro Tasmania has secured the development approval for up to four wind turbines on Flinders Island," he said. "Once wind turbine supply has been secured, the business case will be progressed for consideration by Hydro Tasmania's board."As of December 2008 I have not been able to find information about this wind farm on Hydro Tasmania's Net site. A page by RISE, Research Institute for Sustainable Energy, also mentioned some wind power installed on Flinders Island in 1988 and a second stage in 1996. I emailed Hydro Tasmania (webmaster@hydro.com.au) on 19th Dec. 2008 requesting more information; had not received a reply by 2009/03/19. |
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Huxley Hill Wind FarmAlso known as the King Island Wind FarmThe farm started generating in 1998 and has since been expanded. Its total generating capacity is 2.5MW of electricity and it is now owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.In interesting feature of Huxley Hill is that it includes a 'vanadium redox flow battery' (see Wikipedia); this is capable of storing up to 800kWh of surplus energy and releasing it as required. This was insalled during stage 2.
I thank Peter Kempster, who lives on King Island, for some of the above
information.
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| Status | # Turbines | MW each | Total MW | Commissioned |
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| Operating | 3 | 0.25 | 0.75 | ? |
| Turbine | Nordex N29 |
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| Tower height | 29m |
| Rated wind speed | Approx. 50km/hr |
| Rotor diameter | 29.7m |
| Status | # Turbines | MW each | Total MW | Commissioned |
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| Operating | 2 | 0.85 | 1.7 | 2003 |
| Turbine | Vestas V52 |
|---|---|
| Tower height | 60m |
| Rated wind speed | Approx. 50km/hr |
| Rotor diameter | 52m |
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This was originally a
Roaring 40s
project, but was taken over by Hydro Tasmania following the break up of
Roaring 40s.
It is in the NE extremity of Tasmania, about 20km NE of Gladstone and
about 100km NE of Launceston, was proposed around 2004 only to be shelved in
2006.
Then it was on-again-off-again, largely because of changes in the Federal
Government's renewable energy legislation, until in December Hydro
Tasmania (ABC On-line News) stated that construction would begin 'this month'.
The project includes a new transmission line to connect the wind farm into the Tasmanian network at Derby, about 40km to the South-West.
India Infoline reported 2011/12/10 that Vestas has received an order from Hydro Tasmania to supply 56 units of the V90-3.0 MW wind turbine for this project. ABC online news reported on 2011/12/07 that 200 jobs would be created during construction and quoted Hydro Tasmania's chief executive, Roy Adair, as saying "This increases our renewable energy capability and is an ideal partner for our hydro capability because clearly we can utilise the wind when its blowing and then we can utilise the hydro capability later and optimise the value of that hydro generation." The ABC article went on to say that "Launceston company Haywards will manufacture the tower section of the turbines." On 2011/12/12 7th Space Interactive reported that the turbines would be V90-3.0 MW models and that "delivery is supposed to begin in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the project is expected to be completed by June 2013." |
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Nichols PoultryNichols Poulrty has a wind turbine near the intersection of Chapel Road and Valley Field Road, Sassafras. So far as I know, this is the biggest wind turbine in Australia attached to a business other than a dedicated power generation business.
The turbine is a Vestas V27 |
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This wind farm is located near Cape Grim in the northwest corner of Tasmania.
It was developed, owned and operated for several years by
Hyrdo Tasmania.
Three stages of this wind farm have been completed
giving a total of 140MW installed capacity.
On 2011/12/22 the Wall Street Journal published online the following "Guohua, a unit of China's state-owned coal giant Shenhua Group, is acquiring interests in the 65-megawatt Bluff Point and 75-megawatt Studland Bay wind farms." Hydro Tasmania needs the procedes of this deal to finance the Musselroe Wind Farm. |
| Status | # Turbines | MW each | Total MW | Commissioned | Lat. | Long. |
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| Operating | 6 | 1.75 | 10.5 | August 2002 | Approx. S 40.72° | E 144.73° |
| Status | # Turbines | MW each | Total MW | Commissioned | Lat. | Long. |
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| Operating | 31 | 1.75 | 54 | April 2004 | S ° | E ° |
| Status | # Turbines | MW each | Total MW | Commissioned | Lat. | Long. |
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| Operating | 25 | 3 | 75 | 2007 | S ° | E ° |
| Status | # Turbines | Total MW | Cap.Factor | Commissioned |
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| Operating | 62 | 140 | 39% | 2007 |
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| Turbines | |
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| Productive wind speeds | Stages 1 & 2: from 4.2 to 25m/sec (15 to 90km/hr) |
| Peak efficiency wind speed | Stages 1 & 2: from 15 to 25 m/sec (55 to 90km/hr) |
| Wind generators | Stages 1 & 2: Vestas 1.75MW Stage 3: Vestas V90 3MW |
| Tower height | Stages 1 & 2: 60m |
| Rotor diameter | Stages 1 & 2: 66m |
| Total weight of turbine and tower | Stages 1 & 2: 180 tonnes |
| ABC on-line news Sept. 21, 2007 stated that ten wedge tailed eagles had been killed by Woolnorth turbines since it began operating in 2003. |
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In addition to the wind farms detailed above at least one other has been
proposed (table below).
If and when this proposed wind farm looks likely to be built, and as I get more information, I will write it up in more detail. If any readers have information concerning this or others I would appreciate a note, my email address is at the top of this page. 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 wishfull thinking and is not worth covering in more detail than that below. |
Wind farms that have been proposed in Tasmania | |||||
| Project name | Area | Sponsoring Company | Capacity, MW | Status | |
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| White Rock | Unknown | Eureka Funds Management | 300 | Possible construction in 2014 | |
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Home Wind home On this page... Bluff Point Wind Farm Cattle Hill Wind Farm Contents Flinders Island Wind Farm Huxley Hill Wind Farm Introduction King Island Wind Farm Musselroe Wind Farm Nichols Poultry wind turbine Other proposed wind farms Studland Bay Wind Farm Top Woolnorth Wind Farm |