Engineering giant Keppel Prince has secured a contract worth up to $30 million to build wind turbine tower sections, creating about 30 new jobs in Portland.
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Keppel Prince Engineering (KPE) general manager Steve Garner said he was excited about the deal with Vestas Wind Systems who are the Berrybank Wind Farm turbine suppliers.
Mr Garner said KPE would build 138 tower sections which would form 43 wind energy towers. KPE will also build the foundation rings that sit at the base of the towers for the 181 megawatt wind farm, located 80 kilometres west of Geelong.
He said Berrybank was the first of the state government’s Victorian Renewable Energy Auction Scheme (VREAS) renewable energy target contracts they’d secured. The targets seek to ensure that 25 per cent of the state’s electricity generation comes from renewable sources by 2020.
Mr Garner said KPE had spent $2 million on expanding the facility in anticipation of new work the scheme’s targets, which stipulate projects must use 64 per cent of local content and 90 per cent of locally-milled steel, would create.
He said the deal strengthened KPE’s long-term outlook and it was in talks with turbine suppliers for upcoming projects, which could lead to additional work until the end of 2020. “We have been preparing ourselves for this for the last 12 months and the facility upgrades are certainly doing what they’re designed to do, which is to create jobs and expand business,” Mr Garner said.
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