ARARAT Wind Farm’s management company is “very pleased” with the 75-turbine site’s electricity output in July so far.
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The strong results came after a disappointing June, which saw low winds amid weather patterns that delivered exceptionally poor rainfall.
Through a system of offsets, the farm is helping Canberra meet emissions targets.
Windlab asset manager Shaun Blackie said RES Australia had handed over operations for Ararat Wind Farm as the site finished its construction phase this year.
“We are essentially managing the site, buying and selling power, paying the bills, managing stakeholders such as councils and landholders, grid connections, and compliance,” he said.
Global manufacturing giant General Electric also has staff at the site to help maintain the machinery it supplied for the $450 million project.
Ararat Wind Farm was officially declared fully operational on June 27 in a ceremony attended by Premier Daniel Andrews and federal Member for Wannon Dan Tehan.
Five days of electricity output from Ararat Wind Farm
Mr Blackie said he was very pleased with the wind farm’s output so far.
“July is looking good. If we can get a bit more wind and finish the month off strong, it would be good,” he said.
“June was a slow start, we have seen some very low winds as well as poor rainfall for eastern Australia, but July has started off very strong.
“We have seen those winds pick up again. We managed to get maximum output over the past week, full generation achieved: 240 megawatts.”
Mr Blackie said Ararat’s average generation capacity compared well with similar installations.
“For July, we’d be looking at the high 20s, probably around 29 per cent capacity factor,” he said.
“The capacity factor relies on how much wind you get and how many machines are operating. If you have got machines down for maintenance, your capacity factor can be lower.”
“In practical terms, at 240 megawatts, we’d be looking at powering 120,000 homes. At 30 per cent that would be about 50,000 homes.”
Mr Blackie said he hoped to see better performance in the future.
“We’d be looking for around that 30 per cent capacity factor,” he said.
In June 2015, Ararat Wind Farm reached an agreement with the Australian Capital Territory government to supply 40 per cent of its output to help meet a 100 per cent renewable energy target.
Mr Blackie said there was a lot of misconception in the community about how the deal worked, with some people believing that the wind farm had a direct power line to Canberra.
“Power generated in south-west Victoria will be used within south-west Victoria,” he said.
“The power that is generated here goes into a pool and ACT is buying 40 per cent of the power generated at Ararat Wind Farm from the pool for power consumption within the ACT.”
Mr Blackie said the ACT had agreed to purchase offsets for the carbon emissions-intensive electricity it consumed from the grid.
“They purchase large scale green energy in the form of Renewable Energy Credits. The ACT purchases 40 per cent of the credits from Ararat Wind Farm. the remaining 60 per cent gets traded,” he said.
“People think that there’s a power line all the way to Canberra.
“That’s not how it works.”
During five days of detailed electricity generation data from July, the Ararat Wind Farm almost reached maximum capacity on two days.
At other times the site was briefly producing zero or negative electricity.
“If there’s no wind then for us to run the site we consume power. It’s no different to having solar panels on your roof; when there’s no sun, you draw power in,” Mr Blackie said.
“At some times there will be consumption into the wind farm, and it’s a net effect. They take that consumption off the meter reading for what we export and then we are paid the difference.
“While there is wind, we are self sufficient.”