Waterloo Wind Farm has announced that an Australian company, Keppel Prince, has been contracted to manufacture and supply the turbine towers for the wind farm’s planned extension.
The $43 million Waterloo Wind Farm Stage 2 project will add six new turbines to the facility, which is located 30 km from the town of Clare in South Australia. The new turbines will be added to the ridgeline immediately south of the existing Waterloo wind farm, with site works scheduled to start this month.
The contract, worth an estimated $3.5 million, will mean all 43 turbines at the site will have towers manufactured locally in Australia.
General Manager for Waterloo Wind Farm, Mr Steve Symons, said the purchase decision was an important one as the global market for wind turbine towers is competitive.
Keppel Prince were able to capitalise on the fact they already had wind turbine towers in manufacture for Vestas Australia, our engineering and construction contractor, and therefore offer us reduced costs and faster delivery timeframes,” Mr Symons said.
The announcement follows an earlier decision to appoint local Clare-based engineering firm, OTM Civil, to construct roads, drainage and turbine foundations for the project.
Adelaide-based Consolidated Power Projects Australia Pty Ltd, an electrical engineering company that specialises in high voltage electrical infrastructure, has also been appointed to design and construct all non-turbine components for the project.
Vestas Australia is currently tendering for provision of specialist transport services and crane services and are considering a number of Australian companies to perform this work
Overall, it is estimated $2.3 million investment will flow to the economy of South Australia’s Mid North region.
Delivery of the turbine towers is expected in July. Operator EnergyAustralia says construction will take around nine months from mobilisation to full completion.