As Western Power continues to look for a solution to its gas supply problems Alinta has signed a power purchase agreement with Renewable Power Ventures (RPV) to enable RPV to develop a $200 million wind farm situated 35 km south east of Geraldton in Western Australia's mid-west.
The energy utility will take all electricity generated from the facility for sale to its growing electricity customer portfolio in WA.
With a capacity of 90 megawatts the Alinta wind farm will be comparable to the largest wind farms in the country and will be capable of powering the equivalent of 60,000 homes.
Each year, the green energy produced by the Alinta wind farm will also displace 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions produced by traditional power generation. This is the equivalent of removing 80,000 cars from WA roads each year.
Alinta chief executive officer Bob Browning said the Alinta wind farm was an important part of Alinta's plans to provide cheaper and cleaner electricity to Western Australian consumers.
"In addition to our cogeneration project with Alcoa, Alinta is actively seeking to develop its generation options to support our sale of power into the retail market," Browning said.
"The Alinta wind farm is an important diversification of Alinta's and the State's electricity generation sources, while extending Alinta's core competency in energy retailing.
Alinta estimates the additional generation capacity provided by the wind farm will enable it to generate between $20 million and $25 million in additional sales revenue per year.
The wind farm will comprise 54 wind turbines, each on a tower 80 metres high, with a precise combined generating capacity of 89.1 MW. In comparison, the Albany wind farm - currently Western Australia's largest - comprises 12 turbines with a combined capacity of 22MW.
When both the wind farm and cogeneration unit are in operation, Alinta will be producing about 230 MW of electricity - roughly the equivalent of the Muja A and B coal-fired power stations.
Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2004 with the first electricity to be produced in mid-2005 with NEG Micon, a Danish wind turbine manufacturer, selected to supply the turbines.
