The Macarthur Wind Farm is a
wind farm
A wind farm, also called a wind park 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 exten ...
located in
Macarthur, Victoria, Australia, near
Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
, 260 km west of Melbourne. It is on a 5,500 ha site which has an installed capacity of 420
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s (MW).
Based on a
capacity factor
The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...
of around 35%, it is estimated that the long-term average generation will be approximately 1,250 GWh per year. Its actual capacity factor is much lower, with a historical average of 24.50% since 2013.
It is the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere generating enough power for 220,000 homes and abating 1.7 million tons of
greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...
es annually, at a capacity factor of 35%. The wind farm comprises 140
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
V112-3.0MW
wind turbines
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each y ...
manufactured in Denmark.
The project cost about A$1 billion and was fully operational in January 2013.
It was constructed by Vestas and
Leighton Contractors. The first turbines were connected to the grid in September 2012.
AGL Energy also invested an additional $27m in the substation, which is completely owned by the company.
History
The project was proposed in 2004 and approved by the
Government of Victoria
The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the Executive (government), executive government of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria.
As a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutiona ...
in October 2006.
The project was developed by a joint venture formed by
AGL Energy and
Meridian Energy
Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and i ...
, a New Zealand-based power generating company, with works starting in 2010. The project was fully operational in January 2013.
In 2013, Meridian sold its 50% share in the wind farm to Malaysian power company
Malakoff Corporation Berhad for A$650 million. In September 2015, AGL Energy sold its 50% stake in the wind farm to
Morrison & Co for $532m.
AGL Energy will operate and maintain the wind farm in place of Morrison & Co and Malakoff. It also reserves the rights to all renewable energy certificates and electricity production until 2038.
Operations
The wind farm registered its first grid output in September 2012 and reached full output in March 2013. The generation table use
eljmkt nemlogto obtain generation values for each month.
Note: Asterisk indicates power output was limited during the month.
Performance
Macarthur has consistently been one of the worst performing wind farms since its construction in 2012.
It was intended to have a capacity factor around 34%
and generate 1240 GWh of energy per annum.
However, the most the farm has generated was 1081 GWh in 2013, and has consistently averaged around 901 GWh, which corresponds to a capacity factor of 24.50%.
See also
*
List of wind farms in Victoria
Victoria has some of the best wind resources in Australia, along the southern coast and in the higher altitude areas. Most of Victoria's wind farms are being built along the southern coast and around the Ballarat, Ararat, Victoria, Ararat, a ...
*
Wind power in Australia
Wind power is a major contributor to electricity supply in Australia. As of September 2024, the National Electricity Market, grids of the eastern and southern Australia states has an installed wind capacity of around 13.3 GW, and output pea ...
References
External links
Macarthur Wind Farm- AGL website
*
{{Wind farms in Australia
Wind farms in Victoria (state)
2013 establishments in Australia