Wind-energy speed is picking up across Australia. GE will supply 37 turbines for the new 134MW Crudine Ridge Wind Farm near Pyramul, 45km south of Mudgee, central-west New South Wales’ famed wine and food destination.
GE’s 67 turbines at Boco Rock Wind Farm generate up to 113MW of renewable energy.
Partners Group, a global private market investment manager, has signed on as the major investor in Crudine Ridge Wind Farm and, Oswald points out, was also a major backer of the Ararat Wind Farm in Victoria, for which GE supplied the turbines and was a partner in the construction consortium. Partners Group and CWP Renewables are also repeat collaborators. “It’s a great partnership. Partners Group can see what we can bring and vice versa, and it brings even more certainty of delivery to our pipeline of projects,” says CWP’s Mounsey, referring to the total of 400MW of wind projects CWP and Partners Group have already under construction in NSW — with more to come.
Importantly, Crudine Ridge will form part of CWP Renewables’ ambitious Grassroots Renewable Energy Platform, a portfolio of large-scale wind, solar and battery projects in NSW with a combined capacity of more than 1,300MW. The annual generation from that combined set of renewable generators will equate about half of that produced by the coal-powered Liddell Power Station, which AGL is scheduled to close in 2022. Grassroots will bring multiple high-value jobs to regional NSW as it is constructed over the next four years, with $700 million from the Partners Group on behalf of its clients.
The development is also a significant milestone for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC): it’s the 10th large-scale wind project to receive funding from the financer, which commenced operations in 2013 with a stated mission to “accelerate Australia’s transformation towards a more competitive economy in a carbon-constrained world, by acting as a catalyst to increase investment in emissions reduction”. In backing Crudine Ridge, the CEFC’s overall direct funding commitment to wind projects in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia totals more than $700 million.
GE’s Energy Financial Services (EFS), a global energy investor, was also integral to the Crudine Ridge project, which will be the fifth wind farm in NSW to spin GE turbines. The Crudine turbines will be among the largest and most efficient in Australia, with a rating of 3.63MW and a rotor of 137m. “We spent a great deal of time and care in optimising our solution for the site, and the turbine sits atop a customised tower to make the most of the development envelope,” says Oswald. “The higher your turbine sits, the higher the wind speed, and the more energy you produce.” GE also has a 10-year service agreement to look after those mighty turbines and, says Oswald, “we’ll be using GE’s digital capabilities for operational efficiency” as a part of that.
The project is a collection of renewable-energy milestones and another step along the road to a sustainable, reliable and affordable energy future.
