Today marked an important milestone for Collgar with the exporting of its first renewable energy into the electricity grid of the South West Interconnected System (SWIS). This is the culmination of four years work by Windlab using its extensive scientific experience and expertise in the wind industry.
The Collgar Wind Farm consists of 111 wind turbines on a site located approximately 25km south east of Merredin in Western Australia. The Collgar site was identified by Windlab in 2006 using Windlab's WindScape technology. This technology has been applied to locate and develop sites across Australia, USA, Canada and South Africa.
The identification of the Collgar site highlights Windlab's track record in locating and developing commercially viable sites and the importance of good science in wind development. Experts at modeling atmosphere and windflows, Windlab's work in developing strong relationships with landholders and their communities also allows these sites to be developed with respect to flora and fauna and existing land uses.
The $750m wind farm was developed in a joint venture between Windlab and Investec Bank before transferring to current owners, international investment bank UBS and the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (REST).
Once fully on-line, Collgar has the capacity to produce 206 MW, generating on average 792,000 GWh per year, enough to provide the clean renewable electricity required to power 125,000 homes.