The 55MW Mumbida Wind Farm in Western Australia has been officially opened.
A joint venture of Verve Energy and Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG), the facility is located on farmland situated approximately 40km southeast of Geraldton in the mid-west of Western Australia.
Officially opened by Energy Minister Mike Nahan last Friday, the Minister said the region had significant wind and solar resources; making it attractive for renewable energy projects .
“This project represents a strategic development model that considers building the right plant in the right location, supports the local community and ensures the risk is shared equally between investors,” he said.
“The region understands the value, importance and wisdom of tapping into its abundant wind and solar resource for the benefit of the whole State. This is a major renewable energy facility using the most modern wind energy technology.”
Consisting of 22 General Electric 2.5xl wind turbines, the $200 million project employed up to 100 people during its construction and will provide jobs for six people during its expected 20 year operational period.
Development of the facility has been a marathon rather than the sprint. The Mumbida Wind Farm has been under development since 2001 and the original project plan consisted of 50 turbines rated at just 600kW each. However; once the shovel hit the soil in 2011, things moved reasonably quickly.
The WA Water Corporation will purchase 100 percent of the wind farm’s output for its Southern Seawater Desalination Plant near Binningup. That plant is also powered by the 10 megawatt Greenough River Solar Farm – Australia’s first utility-scale solar farm.
“In a typical year electricity production from the wind farm will be equivalent to the electricity consumption of 35,000 homes and will displace 200,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Verve Energy.
The Mumbida Wind Farm has been designed to be expanded to 85MW in the future.
