Wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

became a significant energy source within

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

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 development of wind power capacity in South Australia has been encouraged by a number of factors. These include the Australian Government's Renewable Energy Target, which requires electricity retailers to source a proportion of energy from renewable sources, incentives from the South Australian Government including a supportive regulatory regime and a payroll tax rebate scheme for large scale renewable energy developments. Also, the state's proximity to the

Roaring forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...

means there are high-quality wind resources for

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 ...

s to exploit. In mid-2009, RenewablesSA was established by the South Australian Government to encourage further investment in

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

in the state. The load factor (or

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 ...

) for South Australian wind farms is usually in the range of 32–38%. This means that a wind farm could typically produce between 32 and 38% of its

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, maximum effect or gross capacity,

Wind farm overview

In 2003 the only large

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

in South Australia was a 0.15 MW unit at Coober Pedy and by early 2004 there was 34 MW of installed wind power capacity.Wind power and wind farms in South Australia
/ref> As of December 2010, South Australia had thirteen operational wind farms, with an installed capacity of 1,018 MW. By August 2014 this had increased to 1,473 MW, accounting for 27 per cent of electricity production.Government of South Australia
"Wind energy in South Australia"
, updated 4 August 2014, retrieved 4 November 2014 As of late 2015 there are a large range of new wind farms in various stages of planning but only one under construction, the Hornsdale Wind Farm. Hornsdale is a place that was generating 86 MW immediately prior to the 2016 South Australian blackout in September 2016. South Australia has provided regulatory certainty for wind farms, and the government has implemented land use planning policies which represent national best practice for accommodating wind farms. On 2 June 2009, Premier

Mike Rann Michael David Rann (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and List of Australi ...

announced plans to increase South Australia's

production target to 33% by 2020, well above the national target of 20% by 2020.Government of South Australia (8 December 2010)
Renewable Energy in South Australia

Operational wind farms

Snowtown Wind Farm (369 MW)

It is located on the Barunga Range of hills west of Snowtown in the mid-North of South Australia and around 150 km north of the state capital, Adelaide. The first stage of the Snowtown wind farm with a capacity of 98.7 MW was completed in 2008. The 270 MW second stage was completed in November 2014.Vorrath, Sophie
"South Australia’s 270MW Snowtown takes wind energy to new highs"
, in ''RenewEconomy'', 3 November 2014

Hallett Wind Farm (350 MW)

Hallett Wind Farm was developed in four stages: Hallett 1 (also known as Brown Hill Wind Farm), Hallett 2 (Hallett Hill), Hallett 4 (North Brown Hill) and Hallett 5 (Bluff Range). The proposed Hallett 3 (Mt Bryan) wind farm was put on hold by AGL in 2012. Hallett 1 consists of 45

Suzlon Suzlon Energy is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational wind turbine manufacturer headquartered in Pune. History Tulsi Tanti was a Gujarati people, Gujarati businessman managing a small textile company. Due to the erratic availa ...

2.1 MW S88 turbines (95 MW in total) and was completed in June 2008. Hallett 2 consists of 34 2.1 MW Suzlon turbines (71.4 MW in total) and was completed in late 2009. Hallett 4 has 63 turbines with a total installed capacity of 132 MW, and was in full operation in early 2011. Hallett 5 consists of 25 Suzlon turbines each of 2.1 MW and was completed in early 2012.

Hornsdale Wind Farm (315 MW)

Hornsdale Wind Farm was built in three stages. Construction of Stage 1 began in September 2015 and was finished in September 2017. Stage 1 consists of 32 turbines each having a rated capacity of 3.2 MW (total 102.4 MW). Construction of Stage 2 began in July 2016 and was finished in June 2017. Stage 2 consists of 32 turbines each having a rated capacity of 3.2 MW (total 102.4 MW). Construction of Stage 3 began in April 2017 and was finished in December 2017. Stage 3 consists of 35 turbines each having a rated capacity of 3.2 MW (total 112 MW).

Lake Bonney Wind Farm (278.5 MW)

Lake Bonney Wind Farm was built in three stages. Stage 1 consists of 46 turbines each having a rated capacity of 1.75 MW (total 80.5 MW) and was finished in March 2005. Construction of Stage 2 began in November 2006 and was finished around April 2008. Stage 2 consists of 53 turbines of 3 MW (total 159 MW). Stage 3 consists of 13 turbines of 3 MW (total 39 MW). The combined capacity of the three stages is 278.5 MW making it the biggest wind farm in Australia at the time of completion.

Lincoln Gap (212 MW)

Lincoln Gap Wind Farm The Lincoln Gap Wind Farm is a wind farm in the vicinity of Lincoln Gap, South Australia, Lincoln Gap on northeastern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Australia. It consists of 59 wind turbines and generates a total of 212 MW of electricit ...

is built on the hills above Lincoln Gap, a gap in the range where the

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...

and Whyalla railway line pass through.

Waterloo Wind Farm (131 MW)

The Waterloo Wind Farm was built as a 111 MW wind farm which was completed in 2010 at an estimated cost of $300 million.New, Robert (November 2010)
Electricity generation Major development projects - October 2010 listing
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, p. 8. It had thirty-seven

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 ...

V90 3 MW turbines along the 18 km wind farm site connected through a 33 kilovolt (kV) internal reticulation network to the wind farm substation. The wind farm is approximately 30 kilometres south-east of the township of Clare and 100 km north of Adelaide. A Stage 2 expansion was approved to add up to an additional 6 turbines to the existing farm and increase its total generating capacity to over 130 MW. The wind farm was expanded with six additional Vestas V117 turbines at the southern end in 2016 at a cost of .

Willogoleche Wind Farm (119 MW)

Willogoleche Wind Farm is in the Mid North of South Australia, just west of the town of Hallett.

Wattle Point Wind Farm (91 MW)

Wattle Point Wind Farm is near Edithburgh on the

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula ...

. When it was officially opened in June 2005 it was Australia's largest wind farm at 91 MW. The installation consists of 55 wind turbines and was built at a cost of 165 million Australian dollars.

Mount Millar Wind Farm (70 MW)

Mount Millar Wind Farm is situated on an escarpment between the towns of Cowell and Cleve located 100 kilometres southwest of

Whyalla Whyalla is a city in South Australia. It was founded as Hummock's Hill, and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, and Gawler, and along ...

. The 35 wind turbines are positioned on the elongated Mount Millar site (about 7 kilometres in length) to maximise wind exposure and can generate up to 70 megawatts of electricity. Construction of this wind farm started in late 2004 and was completed in December 2005. Power production started in February 2006.

Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm (66 MW)

Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm is in a remote coastal area located near the southern tip of the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

in South Australia, about 30 km south west of

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...

. It has 33 wind turbines capable of generating 66 MW in total. Construction started in 2004, and the first turbines were commissioned in late 2005. The wind farm was fully operational by 2007.

Clements Gap Wind Farm (56 MW)

In February 2010, Pacific Hydro opened the 56.7 MW Clements Gap Wind Farm. The wind farm is located in South Australia's mid-north. The project has 27 x 2.1 MW

wind turbines, which generate enough electricity for 30,000 homes.Clements Gap Wind Farm opened
''EcoGeneration'', 25 February 2010.

Canunda Wind Farm (46 MW)

Canunda Wind Farm is a $92.5 million, 46 MW

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

project located on grazing land approximately 16 kilometres south of Millicent.Wind Prospect (undated)
Wind: Clean, Safe, Australia's Future
The wind farm is made up of 23 Vestas 2.0 MW wind turbines. The project was opened in March 2005 by Wind Prospect. StarfishHill

Starfish Hill Wind Farm (33 MW)

Starfish Hill Wind Farm is near Cape Jervis on the

Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula ( ; locally mainly ) is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western s ...

. It comprises 22 turbines of 1.5 MW each, with turbines on Starfish Hill on the nearby Salt Creek Hill, giving a combined generating capacity of 33 MW. Starfish Hill Wind Farm was commissioned in September 2003, making it the first major wind farm in South Australia.

Wind farm proposals

In addition to its operating wind farms, South Australia has several proposals for new farms at various stages of development. These include:

Cancelled wind farm proposals

Myponga Wind Farm

The Myponga Wind Farm was a wind farm proposal by

TrustPower Mercury NZ Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation and multi-product utility retailer of electricity, gas, broadband and mobile telephone services. All the company's electricity generation is Renewable energy, renewable. Mercury has a p ...

in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges, on the

50 km south of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, between the towns of Myponga and Sellicks Beach. Development approval was granted in 2003, and the project was planned to be operational by the end of 2010. The approval was revoked in 2011. In 2009, TrustPower announced that it would not proceed with the project, because the South Australian government had not approved variations to height, layout and turbine type in the existing planning approval. The requested change was to reduce the number of turbines to 16 but increase their power output and increase the height of the turbines from 100 metres to 110 metres. The planning approval was eventually revoked.

Keyneton

Pacific Hydro proposed to build a 105 MW wind farm near Keyneton east of the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

. It was approved by the government in 2013. The proposal was cancelled in October 2019.

Impacts

The increasing proportion of renewable energy in the state has caused a significant decrease in the emissions intensity of electricity generation in South Australia. The rapid development of wind power in South Australia has led to direct economic effects from the construction and operation of wind farms. There has been a total of $2.8 billion in wind power investment up to October 2011, which is estimated to have created 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. Studies into the economic effects of wind farms have reported that a 50 MW installation pays host landholders some $250,000 per year, is constructed by workers who spend up to $1.2 million locally and contributes up to $80,000 annually to community projects. Policies to streamline the approval process for wind farm developments have met with some community opposition. Specific concerns have been raised by rural residents who claim that wind farms have an unacceptable impact on property values, health and the environment. South East residents join wind power protest
/ref> There has been some controversy with respect to the impact of the rising share of wind power and other renewables such as solar o
retail electricity
prices in South Australia. A 2012 report by The Energy Users Association of Australia claimed that retail electricity prices in South Australia were then the third highest in the developed world behind Germany and Denmark, with prices likely to rise to become the most expensive in the near future. The then South Australian Opposition Leader, Isobel Redmond, linked the state's high retail prices for electricity to the Government's policy of promoting development of renewable energy, noting that Germany and Denmark had followed similar policies. On the other hand, it has been noted that the impact of wind power on the

merit order The merit order is a way of ranking available sources of energy, especially electrical generation, based on ascending order of price (which may reflect the order of their short-run marginal costs of production) and sometimes pollution, together wi ...

effect, where relatively low cost wind power is purchased by retailers before higher cost sources of power, has been credited for a decline in the wholesale electricity price in South Australia. Data compiled by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) shows South Australian wholesale electricity prices are the third highest out of Australia's five mainland states, with the 2013 South Australian Electricity Report noting that increases in prices were "largely driven by transmission and distribution network price increases". The South Australian Government has stated that the price increase due to the Australian Government's

carbon price Carbon pricing (or pricing) is a method for governments to mitigate climate change, in which a monetary cost is applied to greenhouse gas emissions. This is done to encourage polluters to reduce fossil fuel combustion, the main driver of climat ...

(in place from July 2012 to June 2014) was approximately half of that experienced by other states due to the high installed capacity of wind and gas-fired generation.

2011 Renewable Energy Plan

In October 2011 the South Australian state Government released a renewable energy plan proposing a range of measures including: * a revised renewable energy target of 33% of the state's electricity production coming from renewable sources by 2020 * a ban on new

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

s * greater involvement of local government in the development approval process to promote more effective community engagement * investigations into increasing the capacity of transmission lines to support renewable energy developments including wind energy * no wind farms allowed within one kilometre of any home unless agreement is reached between the developer and the home owner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wind Power in South Australia Wind power in Australia Renewable energy commercialization