The first completed turbine of Goldwin Australia’s 144-megawatt Cattle Hill wind farm has been recently unveiled, posting a new milestone in the said project located in the Central Highlands in Tasmania.
The first completed turbine (out of 48) was officially unveiled by Tasmania Premier Will Hodgman and Energy Minister Guy Barnett, Renew Economy reported.
Barnett expressed in a statement that he considers the project as a “game changer” for the region by providing employment to approximately 150 people during the construction and around 10 permanent maintenance staff once the project is completed.
He added, “Tasmanian businesses have been engaged with the project since its inception, including Hobart-based Hazell Bros which is undertaking the full civil and electrical works for the project, Launceston-based company Grandco, which is undertaking over $10 million of road upgrades in the Central Highlands region, and Haywards, our local manufacturer for 20 percent of the wind turbine towers.”
He also mentioned that the project will drive the state’s wind energy capacity by 50 percent. It is also a major factor of Tasmania’s goal of powering the state and the mainland by utilizing its bountiful resources of wind energy and pumped hydro storage.
“Such a significant development helps underpin the importance of our Battery of the Nation Plan and the state and federal Liberal government’s $86 million investment in that plan and Project Marinus – nationally significant energy developments that have the potential to inject billions into the Tasmanian economy and deliver thousands of local jobs,” Bartnett said.
He further added, “Once complete, this wind farm will produce enough clean energy to power approximately 63,500 Tasmanian homes while also supporting the Hodgman Liberal Government’s Tasmania-First energy policy to be 100 percent self-sufficient in renewables by 2022.”
The wind farm in Cattle Hill is being developed by Goldwin in partnership with Power China Resource Limited (PCR), a subsidiary of the state-owned EPC contractor PowerChina.
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