Sapphire Wind Farm

Sapphire Wind Farm
Country	Australia
Location	Swan Vale, New South Wales
Coordinates	29°42′S151°25′E / 29.70°S 151.41°E / -29.70; 151.41
Status	Operational
Construction began	January 2017
Commission date	December 2017
Construction cost	A$590m
Operator	CWP Renewables
Wind farm
Type	Onshore
Hub height	137 metres (449 ft)
Rotor diameter	126 metres (413 ft)
Site area	8,921 hectares (89.21 km2)
Site elevation	750 to 1,100 metres (2,460 to 3,610 ft)
Power generation
Units operational	75 × 3.6 MW
Make and model	Vestas V126
Nameplate capacity	270 MW
Capacity factor	32.81% (average 2019-2024)
Annual net output	776 GWh (average 2019-2024)
External links
Website	https://www.sapphirewindfarm.com.au/

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. ^[1] The farm covers approximately 8921 hectares of cleared grazing land, and has an elevation of about 750 to 1100m. ^[2] It is north of the Gwydir Highway. The White Rock and Glen Innes Wind Farms are south of the highway closer to Glen Innes. ^[3] It is intended to be colocated with a 200 MW solar farm. ^[4] 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. ^[5] The project is approved to build up to 109 wind turbines. ^[6]

Operations

The wind farm began grid commissioning in February 2018 and was fully commissioned in November 2018 ^[1] and has operated continuously since then. The generation table uses eljmkt nemlog to obtain generation values for each month.

Sapphire Wind Farm Generation (MWh)

Year	Total	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2018	393,832	N/A	7,017*	16,704*	15,825*	11,046*	22,676*	27,450*	42,688*	49,170*	56,579*	71,738*	72,939
2019	799,631	49,773	84,005	76,554	82,732	65,551	53,708	64,703	56,076	66,872	59,143	67,655	72,859
2020	792,937	59,109	72,791	80,528	52,023	63,037	48,551	64,676	68,845	81,472	62,813	61,515	77,577
2021	788,221	68,573	71,741	73,914	55,524	41,764	62,921	74,631	56,785	61,003	68,573	88,420	64,372
2022	863,155	86,376	79,266	67,680	76,687	83,479	43,829	63,663	65,396	62,441	82,674	75,692	75,972
2023	718,278	69,544	67,886	55,596	67,993	53,324	57,140	52,557	53,600	56,734	62,799	68,926	52,179
2024	693,625	80,196	58,383	80,884	48,695	47,435	33,801	78,678	69,586	45,473	32,325	59,962	58,207

Note: Asterisk indicates power output was limited during the month.

References

1. "Sapphire Wind Farm". CWP Renewables. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
2. "Compliance Report Sapphire Wind Farm, NSW EPBC 2011/5854" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
3. "Sapphire Wind Farm Map" (PDF). CWP Renewables. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
4. "Sapphire Solar". CWP Renewables. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
5. "Video - Sarens Tops the Tallest Turbine in Australia – Heavy Lift News". www.heavyliftnews.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
6. "Sapphire Wind Farm". Inverell Shire Council. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.