Queensland’s largest wind farm, Mt Emerald, is now exporting its first electricity into the grid, with its new substation and switchyard energised and ready for production.
Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the 275kV Walkamin Substation, owned and built by Powerlink, has been commissioned and is already transporting power from the Mt Emerald Wind Farm into Powerlink’s transmission network.
“This new substation is the critical link to transport power generated at Mount Emerald,” Dr Lynham said, “when testing and commissioning works are fully completed, the facility is expected to provide enough power annually to supply up to 75,000 homes.” This is close to supplying one-third of Far North Queensland’s energy needs.
With the substation energised, the wind farm will now undergo phased commissioning and testing works.
“All works are on schedule to have Mount Emerald fully operational and powering Queensland by the end of the year,” the Minister explained.
The Mt Emerald Wind Farm project has already created around 150 jobs during construction, with Powerlink’s grid connection works now supporting another 59 jobs.
Powerlink’s Chief Executive, Merryn York, congratulated the team who accelerated the commissioning date for the substation by 10 weeks.
“This was no easy feat, given the hilly and rocky terrain in the area which presented a number of design and technical challenges.”
The $380 million Mt Emerald Wind Farm features 53 wind turbines with turbine blades spanning up to 57m long and weighing up to 16 tonnes. The farm will generate up to 180.5 MW of power, expected to reduce close to 450,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year (comparable to 100,000 cars off the road).
The project is one of 13 renewable energy projects either underway or financially committed in North Queensland at present. With a combined capital investment of over $2 billion in the North Queensland economy, the projects will create over 1,800 jobs during construction and generate a total of more than 1000 megawatts of electricity.
More information on the Mt Emerald Wind Farm can be found here.
