Construction starts for 132MW Mt Gellibrand wind farm in Victoria, Australia

The US$193.7m project will operate in July 2018.

Renewables project developer Acciona Energy has begun construction work on the 132-megawatt Mount Gellibrand wind farm in the State of Victoria. 

The electricity generated by the US$193.7m (AU$258m) Mt. Gellibrand will be traded on the wholesale electricity market. The Victorian Government committed to purchasing the renewable energy certificates generated from 66MW of Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm last year following a public tender process. The contract allows the Government to buy certificates for up to 10 years.

Acciona Energy will build and operate the new wind farm, located 65 kilometres west of Geelong and 25 kilometres east of Colac, under its ownership. Mt. Gellibrand will be equipped with forty-four Nordex AW125/3000 wind turbines. This model, optimized to obtain the maximum energy possible on sites with medium wind speeds and low turbulence, has rated power of 3MW and a rotor sweep of 125 metres, being installed on an 87.5-metre-high (hub height) steel tower.

The project will create more than one hundred direct jobs at the busiest times of the construction phase, while the supply of equipment for the wind farm will also generate employment in several companies in Victoria.

Following its entry into service, planned for July 2018, Mt. Gellibrand will produce around 429 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 60,000 homes and avoiding the emission of some 412,000 tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere from coal-fired power stations.