The $560 million 80-turbine Dundonnell Wind Farm north-east of Mortlake is to proceed after the project proponents gained another power contract that made the project commercially viable.
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In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Tilt Renewables said construction of the massive project would start early next year with the wind farm expected to be fully operational by September 2020.
Tilt said it had finalised a 15-year contract with a party to take 50 per cent of the wind farm's capacity. The Renew Economy web page said the contract was with Snowy Hydro.
The 15-year contract was in addition to the Victorian government's commitment to take 37 per cent of Dundonnell's output as part of the government’s Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET).
Tilt Renewables chief executive Deion Campbell said the contracts “substantially de-risk this project and demonstrate our ability to execute our strategy”.
The wind farm will generate about 336 megawatts and be located across 4500 hectares on land mainly used for grazing by 12 host landholders. Tilt said the instigation for the wind farm came from local landholders who were keen to source a wind farm for their properties.
The farm will connect to the national electricity grid via a 38 kilometre 220 kilo volt transmission line to the Mortlake power station. The height of the wind towers to the blade tip will be 189 metres high.
All occupied dwellings within two kilometres of a proposed turbine on the farm are participating in the project. There are only 11 occupied dwellings between two and four kilometres of the proposed wind farm and three are participating in the project.
Tilt recently opened the 15-turbine Salt Creek wind farm that is close to the site of the Dundonnell farm.
