Dundonnell Wind Farm celebrates commencement of construction

Tilt Renewables will today celebrate the commencement of construction of its 80-turbine, $560 million Dundonnell Wind Farm at an event at the Dundonnell community hall. As one of Victoria’s largest renewable energy facilities, the Dundonnell Wind Farm will play an instrumental part in helping Victoria reach its 2025 renewable energy target.

The Dundonnell Wind Farm will bring a multitude of benefits to its local community and wider south west Victoria, as well as to Victoria’s renewables industry. The wind farm will:

• Create approximately 200 construction jobs and 1,500 indirect jobs
• Generate approximately 1,230 gigawatt hours of energy per year, enough to power about 245,000 homes or more than enough emission-free electricity for all of Ballarat, Warrnambool and Geelong
• Boost local manufacturing through sourcing components for the project from suppliers in south west Victoria.

Construction is already underway, including upgrading the public Woorndoo-Streatham Road, building an on-site quarry and starting earth works required for the overhead transmission line. In February, Tilt Renewables’ turbine partner Vestas, opened a new turbine assembly plant in Geelong, creating 20 full-time jobs associated with the assembly of some of the major components for the Dundonnell Wind Farm.

Construction is expected to take just under two years, with the project set to be fully operational in late 2020. Once operational, the Dundonnell Wind Farm will avoid the emission of roughly 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of removing about 440,000 cars from the road.

Tilt Renewables Chief Executive, Deion Campbell, says the wind farm was conceived in 2009 by the landowners and after many years of planning and detailed studies, including consultation with all stakeholders, received approvals in 2016 from the Victorian and Federal Governments.

“Now, after three further years of hard work in planning and preparation, Tilt Renewables has begun construction of the Dundonnell Wind Farm which will use the latest, most efficient wind turbine technology. This is the time to thank everyone who has been involved along the way – it’s been a massive team effort working closely with Dundonnell landowners and the community, the Victorian Government and our business partners to get to this point.”

“For the Dundonnell community, we’re delighted that many local businesses are already benefiting from the construction of the wind farm thanks to an increase in local economic activity,” said Mr Campbell.

Tilt Renewables is helping Victoria’s transition to the next generation of energy. Around 87 per cent of the power generated from the Dundonnell Wind Farm has been contracted to both the Victorian State Government, under the Victorian Renewable Energy Auction Scheme (VREAS), and to Snowy Hydro through its Renewable Energy Procurement Program.

In response to Tilt Renewables’ winning bid for the Dundonnell Wind Farm under the VREAS, Victoria’s Energy Minster Lily D’Ambrosio praised the new renewable energy projects for the multitude of benefits they are bringing to Victoria.

“Renewable energy creates jobs, drives growth, and protects our environment – and importantly, helps drive down power prices for Victorian households and businesses,” said Minister D’Ambrosio.

The Dundonnell Wind Farm started as an idea by a group of local farmers who aspired to host a wind farm on their properties. One of 12 host landowners, Will Lynch, said celebrating the start of construction is a proud moment for those involved.

“Today’s a great day for the landowners, the Dundonnell Wind Farm is something we’ve all wanted. Not only will it be a way to supplement our income, but we’ve got to look at renewable energy as a way of reducing our greenhouse emissions.

“We see the wind farm as benefiting the whole community – it will supplement my business as a wool-grower, and it will be good for local businesses in the area and our local economy as a whole,” said Mr Lynch.

Tilt Renewables has worked closely with AusNet Services to create a shared transmission line solution which will be able to be used by other wind farm operators to reduce the amount of transmission line infrastructure. AusNet Services will build, own and operate the project’s network connection infrastructure. World-leading designer and manufacturer of wind turbines, Vestas, will provide the project’s 80 wind turbines and deliver the balance of plant under a full Engineer, Procure and Construct (EPC) contract.

Tilt Renewables Chief Executive, Deion Campbell, says the Dundonnell Wind Farm is a strong example of how Tilt Renewables is delivering on its growth ambitions. The project realises a 50 per cent increase in Tilt Renewables’ asset base and has been well supported by shareholders through a recent successful equity raise for the project.

“Dundonnell positions Tilt Renewables well for further growth – growth that is important in helping Australia transition to cleaner, next generation energy,” said Mr Campbell.