Windlab said today that construction commencing on the Oaklands Hill Wind Farm was a validation of its world-class wind-mapping technology, WindScape.
Together with its financial partner Investec Bank, Windlab identified the site, conducted initial community consultations, undertook energy calculations, turbine positioning and site design, atmospheric measurements and modelling, using WindScape and RaptorNL.
Windlab spokesman Dr Nathan Steggel said Oaklands Hill was an area with dependable wind resources and its completion of the project was an excellent example of the company's unique competitive advantage in finding and validating quality wind farm sites.
“Using technology like WindScapetm, we can accurately identify the best possible project sites, such as Oaklands Hill, which is well inland, close to power infrastructure and enjoys excellent wind resource – that's the major competitive advantage of our technology,” Dr Steggel said.
“WindScape takes the guesswork out of determining the most commercially viable locations and enables us to work efficiently with all our stakeholders to develop world class wind generation facilities.”
Windlab identified Oaklands Hill in 2005 and secured approval from the Victorian government to develop the site with financial partner Investec, which sold its interest to AGL last December.
The site, which has long-term average wind speed of 8.1 metres per second, is now under construction by AGL and when finished will consist of 32 turbines.