GE and GPG secure wind turbine contract for Crookwell 2 Wind Farm

GE Renewable Energy has announced an agreement with Global Power Generation Australia (GPG) yesterday to supply and install 28 3.4MW 130-metre-rotor wind turbines at one of Australia’s largest renewable developments, the 91 MW Crookwell 2 Wind Farm near Goulburn, NSW. Once operational, the wind farm will produce an excess of 300,000 megawatt-hours during the average year, with zero carbon emissions, an energy supply equivalent to that needed to power 41,600 Canberra homes.

Due to be completed in September 2018, Crookwell 2 will make a significant contribution to ACT’s commitment to source 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources after the ACT Government awarded GPG with a feed-in tariff entitlement to the development. It will be the first wind farm in Australia for Global Power Generation, which is aiming to secure additional long-term offtake agreements for other large renewable projects included in GPG Australia’s pipeline.

GE is rapidly becoming one of the technology providers of choice for Australian wind developments, and today’s announcement comes after similar agreements on large-scale projects in Silverton, NSW and Ararat, Victoria.

Global Power Generation CEO, Lluis Noguera, said: “We are thrilled to be working alongside GE and local contractors on a project that will significantly contribute to the energy transition underway in the Australian Capital Territory and throughout Australia.”

In addition, he explained: “This is the first milestone for Global Power Generation in Australia. We have a pipeline of projects that offer competitive energy prices to retailers, private customers and public actions, and some of them are already ready to be built.”

Geoff Culbert, President & CEO, GE Australia, New Zealand & Papua New Guinea, said: “GE will be delivering the very best technology to this project, which will benefit the environment as well as the local economy and community.” He also added: “Working together with Global Power Generation Australia, we are thrilled to play an active part in a project that will directly support 80 construction jobs and 14 ongoing operational jobs in the local region.”

Local sheep farmer Charlie Prell, whose property Gundowringa will host some of the 28 turbines, says the wind farm is a “game changer” for him and other landowners. “It gives you the financial flexibility to change your stocking rate, to spell pastures, to manage water courses much more sustainably and environmentally because you’ve got the passive income stream and you’re not reliant on the income from the stock, which is totally related to the weather conditions and the pasture conditions.”