News 
 Local News 
 News 
 General 
 Final tower, now comes the power 

Final tower, now comes the power

02 Jun, 2009 11:31 PM
THE 128th turbine has been erected at the Waubra Wind Farm, marking the end of construction.

But it will be at least another month before the wind farm is in full swing, with Acciona Energy hoping to have the facility commissioned in late July.

Already, more than half of the turbines are operating and delivering electricity back to the grid.

Construction manager Bruce Payne said the construction process had gone well, although it was help up by wind constraints.

He said landowners had also been cooperative throughout the process.

The wind farm is the biggest in the southern hemisphere and at night, its red lights are clearly visible north west of Ballarat.

The first turbine was erected in January 2008, with turbines slowly being erected across an area stretching from Learmonth to Landsborough.

Acciona Energy chief executive officer Brett Thomas said in completing the project, the team had reached a momentum milestone.

The company is about to begin its operational phase and will employ 26 permanent facility technicians and several management personnel.

The facility's environment management plan will also be adjusted for the operational phase, covering factors including flora, fauna and erosion.

Now, the residents are planning for a wind farm festival to be held in Waubra later this year.

Acciona Energy is also working on its plans for its second wind farm development, the Waubra North Wind Farm.

Print
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size

comments


Date: Newest first | Oldest first
Visible red lights that's for sure, I can see them from Kingston. They still won't reveal how much power a turbine produces, more spin for carpet baggers. Turbines don't even reduce co2 emmissions. Another con on the consumer!
Posted by Beth, 3/06/2009 12:44:12 AM
What power? When the wind don't blow, the power don't flow! What a disgrace at Waubra. At least the landholders end up owning the turbines and having to decommission them at a massive loss!
Posted by Mal, 3/06/2009 12:47:40 AM
More wind turbine spin articles by a paper that has lost touch with its readers. If The Courier thinks covering three sides of Ballarat with useless turbines is the way forward, well something is sadly wrong.
Posted by Steve, 3/06/2009 12:57:35 AM
Just remember that the power only comes when the wind blows. And that this wind farm is being backed up by coal generation in the Latrobe Valley. It will do nothing to stop or slow down the consumption of coal.
Posted by bill, 3/06/2009 6:01:00 AM
No wonder the people against the Tuki wind farm didn't want turbines covering those beautiful volcanic hills. Look at the mass of wires, power infrastructure and of course those mass of turbines with red flashing lights.
Posted by Bob, 3/06/2009 6:46:38 AM
The final tower of pain, the waste of energy building something that doesn't help the environment, no co2 reduction, no stopping of coal power plants, just intermittent power by companies that won't reveal figures of production. No wonder we don't want the Ballan wind farm in our region, let alone turbines from Beaufort through to Ballan.
Posted by Kelly, 3/06/2009 6:55:39 AM
I see Acciona is having a wind festival for the residents of Waubra but spare a thought for us people living under the shadow of these giant towers, listening to the sound of the blades and putting up with the flashing lights all night long. There will be no festival for us and now we hear yet another useless wind farm is proposed at Ballan. I just ask has there ever been an ounce of greenhouse gas emission been saved by a wind farm? No.
Posted by Judith, 3/06/2009 9:26:21 AM
Turbines, who benefits from these environmental disasters? Answer: Foreigners. Who pays for them? Answer: Taxpayers. We all pay more for our power and save no co2. Thanks Mr Brumby. Could The Courier please do some investigative journalism on this subject?
Posted by Bruce, 3/06/2009 11:44:40 AM
Wow! All these negative comments about the windfarm. Let's keep on using coal to power our country and see what happens. The wind in Waubra is atrocious. Even when there is no wind anywhere else, it is windy in Waubra. At least someone is trying to utilise it and do something good with it. Do we take it that all of you complaining about the noise would rather a dirty smoke producing coal power station in the area instead?
Posted by crazycatlady, 3/06/2009 4:11:24 PM
Great to see another windfarm up in my home district. I'm looking forward to getting back to Victoria as part of the wind industry soon instead of working on windfarms interstate. I'm glad all of the anti-devlopment sooks weren't around when the Snowy Hydro scheme was built.
Posted by Brendan, 3/06/2009 4:36:43 PM
1 | 2 | 3  |  next >

post a comment


Screen name  *
Email address  *
Remember me?
Comment  *
 
We invite and encourage our readers to post comments. Comments are moderated and will appear as soon as our editor has approved them. When posting comments you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions.

Most popular articles

Photo Sales
 
Paperboy
 
Design and Print
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...