GE Renewable Energy is set to supply what’s slated to be the “southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm” with a capacity of more than 1GW, said the Australian project’s lead developer.
WestWind Energy said the US industrial group will be its “partner” on the Golden Plains project in the state of Victoria, and is in line to supply more than 200 turbines from its Cypress platform, confirming local reports of the OEM’s involvement.
A statement from the developer sent to Recharge added: “WestWind and GE will work closely together through the development phase to drive value for the project, including layout and grid connection optimisation, building upon the strong existing relationship between the two companies.”
David Lian, sales director GE Renewable Energy Onshore Wind in Australia, said: “GE brought its full capability to bear to secure preferred status on Golden Plains. We listened closely to WestWind Energy to ensure the right value levers were targeted for both the project and WestWind as the developer.”
If fulfilled the Golden Plains order far surpasses the 244 deal, also in Australia, that was previously the largest so far for the Cypress platform, launched by GE in 2018.
Golden Plains received planning consent from the Victoria government early this year and an environmental green light from federal authorities earlier in August.
The project is set for construction from 2021 on a site near Rokewood in the Golden Plains Shire, with full capacity online around 2025 “creating the southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm with a generating capacity of more than 1GW”, said the statement from WestWind Energy.
West Wind Energy Australia, a unit of the Germany-based developer of the same name, is advancing a total of five projects in Australia, according to its website.