GE has signed an agreement with the Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF) to deliver and install 123 wind turbines for the Coopers Gap wind farm project at Cooranga North, 250km north-west of Brisbane.
PARF is a partnership between AGL Energy Limited (AGL) and Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC).
AGL holds 20% in PARF while 80% is held by QIC on behalf of clients – Future Fund and the QIC Global Infrastructure Fund.
Following completion in 2019, the 453 MW wind farm will generate around 1,510,000 MWh of renewable energy annually, sufficient to power the equivalent of over 260,000 average Australian homes and cut down CO2 emissions by 1,180,000 tonnes annually.
Coopers Gap Wind Farm will be the largest wind farm in the country on completion, besides being GE’s first wind project in Queensland.
This is the second major renewables energy project that GE and AGL have announced this year, after the Silverton Wind Farm in western New South Wales.
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By GlobalDataGE Australia, New Zealand & Papua New Guinea president & CEO Geoff Culbert said: “We are proud to be working with AGL to support Australia’s transition to a cleaner, modern energy system.
“AGL’s commitment to a lower emissions future is clear. The company announced earlier this year it would ramp up investment in renewable energy and decarbonise its generation by 2050. This wind farm represents a significant step towards that goal and we are proud to be a part of that.”
GE will supply 91 of its 3.6 MW turbines with 137m rotors, and 32 of its 3.8 MW turbines with 130m rotors.
The firm will also maintain the windfarm over its lifetime.
AGL managing director and CEO Andy Vesey said: “More than 800 MW of projects have now been vended into PARF in its first 12 months of operation, following the earlier transactions involving the Silverton wind farm project and Nyngan and Broken Hill solar plants in New South Wales. The strong support we have received from our equity partners and lenders for these projects is testament to the readiness of the private sector to invest in Australia’s energy transformation.
“Certainty on energy policy, including the implementation of the recommendations of the Finkel Review, will enable more projects of this kind to go ahead and help place downward pressure on energy prices by increasing supply,” he said.
CATCON will construct the wind farm. For GE, Coopers Gap is its fifth wind farm project to commence construction in Australia this year.
