A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore.
Crookwell Wind Farm, located at Crookwell west of Goulburn, New South Wales, consists of eight 600 kW wind turbines giving a total capacity of 4.8 MW. It was the first grid-connected wind farm in Australia when built by Pacific Power in 1998. It is now owned by Tilt Renewables.
The Blayney wind farm is a wind power station at Lake Carcoar, south of Blayney, New South Wales, Australia. It was acquired by Trustpower in 2014, and is now owned by Tilt Renewables. Blayney has fifteen wind turbines, with a total nameplate capacity of 9.9 MW of electricity.
Albany wind and Grasmere farms are two wind power stations near Albany, Western Australia, owned by Bright Energy Investments. They are adjacent and are often considered a single facility. They have 18 wind turbines, with a maximum generating capacity of 35.4 MW of electricity. The original Albany Wind Farm was commissioned in October 2001, after ten years of planning. The wind farm has the capacity to produce 80 per cent of the electricity requirements of Albany.
Wind power is one of the main renewable energy sources in the world. In Australia, wind power contributed 10% of the total electricity supply in 2020, and 37.5% of its renewable energy supply. Wind resource testing conditions in Australia are optimum, as abundant wind resources are located close to residential areas in the southern parts of the country and on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range in the east.
Wind power became a significant energy source within South Australia over the first two decades of the 21st century. In 2015, there was an installed capacity of 1,475 MW, which accounted for 34% of electricity production in the state. This accounted for 35% of Australia's installed wind power capacity. In 2021, there was an installed capacity of 2052.95 MW, which accounted for 42.1% of the electricity production in the state in 2020.
The Waubra wind farm is located on both sides of the Sunraysia Highway 35 km north-west of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. Upon its completion in July 2009, it was the largest wind farm in Australia and was the largest wind farm by number of turbines and total capacity in the southern hemisphere.
Wind power is the fastest-growing renewable energy technology in Scotland, with 9,347 megawatts (MW) of installed wind power capacity as of June 2020. This included 8,366 MW from onshore wind in Scotland and 981 MW of offshore wind generators.
Coopers Gap Wind Farm is a 453 megawatt wind farm in the Western Downs and South Burnett regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately 175 km north-west of the state capital Brisbane, and 50 kilometres south-west of Kingaroy and 65 km north of Dalby. When construction was announced to be completed on 30 April 2020, it became the largest wind farm in Australia. This record was held until 10 December 2020 when the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm in Victoria was completed.
The Vestas V164 is a three-bladed offshore wind turbine, produced by Vestas, with a nameplate capacity of up to 10 megawatts, a world record. Vestas revealed the V164's design in 2011 with the first prototype unit operated at Østerild in northern Denmark in January 2014. The first industrial units were installed in 2016 at Burbo Bank, off the west coast of the United Kingdom. By 2021, Vestas had produced 500 of the series.
Stockyard Hill Wind Farm is a wind farm project in Victoria (Australia). In May 2022 the project achieved its 5th hold point test, and was approved by the Australian Energy Market Operator and Network Services Provider to generate up to 400MW into the National Electricity Market. When it is fully commissioned, it is expected to produce up to 530MW, which would be Australia's largest wind farm.
The Hornsdale Wind Farm is an electricity generator in the locality of Hornsdale in the south-west of the Narien Range, north of Jamestown, South Australia. It consists of 99 wind turbines with a generation capacity of 315 megawatts (422,000 hp). The plant is owned and operated by Neoen, a French renewable energy company.
The Lincoln Gap Wind Farm is a wind farm in the vicinity of Lincoln Gap on northeastern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Australia. It consists of 59 wind turbines and generates a total of 212 MW of electricity. Construction began in late 2017 and was initially expected to be commissioned in late 2018. Construction was delayed in July 2018 when unexploded ordnance was discovered on the site, left from historic military testing. The site is not far from the Cultana Training Area.
The Murra Warra Wind Farm will be one of Australia's largest wind farms. Located on the plains of north-western Victoria, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the city of Horsham, it will consist of 99 wind turbines with a maximum tip height of 220m.
Sapphire Wind Farm is a 270 megawatt (MW) wind farm in the Australian state of New South Wales. When it was built in 2018, it was the largest wind farm in New South Wales. It is located in the New England region of northern New South Wales, 28 kilometres east of Inverell and 18 kilometres west of Glen Innes. The farm covers approximately 8921 hectares of cleared grazing land, and has an elevation of about 750 to 1100m. It is north of the Gwydir Highway. The White Rock and Glen Innes Wind Farms are south of the highway closer to Glen Innes. It is intended to be colocated with a 200 MW solar farm. The wind farm contains 75 Vestas V126 turbines, each of which can generate 3.6 MW of electricity. They each have a 137 metre hub height and 126 metre rotor diameter. The project is approved to build up to 109 wind turbines.
Bodangora Wind Farm is a 113.2 MW wind farm owned by Infigen Energy in the district of Bodangora near Wellington, New South Wales, Australia. It consists of 33 wind turbines. The towers are 85 metres tall, and the rotor diameter is 130 metres. The wind turbine blades were manufactured in Bergama, Turkey. The development of the project began in 2009. It received planning approval in August 2013. The wind farm was completed on 27 February 2019. Annually it is supposed to generate on average 361 GWh of energy at capacity factor of 36.4%.
Dundonnell Wind Farm is at Dundonnell, 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Mortlake in the Australian state of Victoria. Construction began in January 2019 and was completed in 2020 with 80 Vestas wind turbines with a capacity to generate 336MW of electricity. The drive trains and hubs were assembled at the former Ford Australia site in Geelong.
The Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park is a combined wind and solar farm under construction south of Port Augusta in South Australia, Australia. The solar farm is planned to be at the northern end of the site, west of the Augusta Highway and south of Sundrop Farms. The wind turbines will be on both sides of the Augusta Highway, extending south as far as the road to Horrocks Pass. Construction formally started in October 2020 and is estimated to take about 18 months to complete. The total site is about 5,400 hectares.
Crudine Ridge Wind Farm is a 134 MW wind farm constructed and owned by CWP Renewables near Sallys Flat, 45 km south of Mudgee in New South Wales, Australia. It consists of 37 wind turbines, each rated to 3.63 MW. The towers are 91.5 metres tall, have a 137-metre rotor diameter, and a tip height of 160 metres. Commercial operations began in mid 2021. Annually, it is projected to generate 392 GWh at a capacity factor of 33.4% on average.
