Chinese wind group Goldwind made a big international breakthrough with a deal for Australia’s largest wind project, the 530MW Stockyard Hill Wind Farm that also saw it secure the country’s biggest wind power PPA at a price below A$60/MWh ($44.50/MWh).
Goldwind will pay Australian utility Origin Energy A$110m for Stockyard Hill, where it will deploy its new 3S Smart Wind Turbine 3MW platform.
The deal includes full EPC delivery by the Chinese group, which will also arrange financing for the wind farm in the state of Victoria.
Origin Energy – which had been developing Stockyard Hill since the start of the decade – will buy the total output and renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Stockyard Hill under a power purchase agreement running from start of operations in 2019 to 2030 “for a market leading PPA price of below A$60/MWh”, said the utility.
Origin said: "Today's announcement is important as it indicates just how fast the transition is occurring in Australia’s energy market. Not only is renewable energy being rolled out rapidly, the costs have fallen at a very fast rate.
"Through our deal with Goldwind, Origin has been able to add a substantial amount of new renewable energy to our portfolio at a market leading PPA price, and as Stockyard Hill is in Victoria, this will help to cover a large portion of the load of the recently retired Hazelwood Power Station.”
For Goldwind the agreement, which is subject to regulatory clearances and financial close, marks the realisation of a deal that has been mooted since as long ago as 2012.
Goldwind Chairman Wu Gang said: “Goldwind is delighted to have been selected by Origin Energy to deliver the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm and to supply renewable energy from the project to Origin until 2030. This project will make a material contribution to achieving Australia’s 2020 Renewable Energy Target.”
Goldwind has two other wind farms operating in Australia: the 19.5MW Mortons Lane installation in Victoria and the 165.5MW Gullen Range wind farm in New South Wales, where it is also building the 175MW White Rock project.
Stockyard Hill will be a major foreign showcase for 149 turbines from the Chinese group’s GW3S platform, which will form a key part of its global expansion strategy.
Earlier this year Goldwind confirmed a 140-metre-rotor prototype was in place in Zhangbei Grassland in Hebei province, with a rated capacity of 3.4MW and using blades from LM Wind Power.
The company told Recharge then: "With this prototype successfully connected to the grid, we took an important step towards implementing our international strategy. The GW3S models will play an important role in the future market."
