Today the ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for the Environment Simon Corbell has opened Windlab Limited’s new global headquarters at 60 Marcus Clarke St., Civic.
The headquarters will house Windlab Asset Management’s new Global Operations Hub. Consisting of over 430sq.m of floor space, Windlab also holds an option over an additional 400sq.m to allow for further expansion. The Global Operations Hub will provide wind farm control and management services for multiple wind farms in Australia, Africa and over time other emerging markets.
“This new facility will allow Windlab to grow its locally based team by 70% to nearly thirty people over just the next twelve months”, said Roger Price, Windlab CEO. “Importantly it will also provide the scale necessary to support our ongoing domestic and export growth, particularly now we have opened an office in Dar Es Salaam in addition to Cape Town and have projects in Mozambique and Kenya.”
After a difficult period in the Australian renewables sector Windlab’s rapid growth can in large part be attributed to the ACT Government’s climate change policy and resultant renewable energy auctions. Success in the first round of wind auctions has underpinned Windlab’s investment in the global operations hub which will be used to manage more than 80 state of the art wind turbines at the Coonooer Bridge and Ararat Wind Farms for the duration of the ACT feed in tariff. Over the course of the feed intariff Windlab estimates that this investment will lead to more than $240Million of economic activity in the ACT.
“We are excited to open the new global operation hub and to be the first anchor tenant for Canberra’s renewable energy innovation precinct”, explained Alex Craw, Head of Windlab Asset Management. “Being located right next to the ANU will further enhance our strong education and research ties with the local tertiary institutions and through our ongoing internship program provide even better access to the next generation of science and engineering graduates who seek a career in renewable energy”.
Windlab hopes to manage more than 1,500MW of wind and solar capacity from its global operations hub by 2020.