Squadron Starts Work on Largest NSW Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Work has started on the largest windfarm in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in what Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest is hoping will be the start of a 14-gigawatt (GW) pipeline of wind projects in the country.

Squadron Energy (Sydney, Australia), which is wholly owned by Forrest's investment company Tartarang (Perth, Australia), has broken ground on the 414-megawatt (MW) Uungala Windfarm near Wellington, claiming the company was the only company to reach financial close on a windfarm in Australia and the only company to open a major grid-connected windfarm in 2023 (Bango Windfarm at 233 MW). The company also used the opportunity to announce a major US$1.85 billion wind turbine deal with GE Vernova (Atlanta, Georgia). GE Vernova will supply the 69-turbine Uungula project with its 6-MW wind turbines, alongside fulfilling the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) duties with local partners. The company will also supply turbines for Squadron's next two NSW projects, the Spicers Creek and Jeremiah windfarms, with a combined capacity of 1.1 GW.

Tartarang Chairman Andrew Forrest said: "This is a huge announcement from a major Australian company that is getting on with the job of building the renewable energy capacity required to deliver the green power Australia urgently needs. The time for talk is over, we are investing right now in Australia's green energy transition and creating jobs and economic development for regional Australia." He also voiced his support for the Federal Government's Capacity Investment Scheme as a mechanism to "supercharge" renewable energy development. "No longer will we have to rely on expensive, volatile, planet destroying fuels. We will have secure and inexpensive energy from a huge new industry for Australia."

Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen added: "The Albanese Government welcomes Squadron Energy's sod turning on the Uungula Wind Farm and its ambitious 14 GW renewable and storage development pipeline. These projects are further proof renewable energy investors are getting on with the job, capitalizing on Australia's huge renewable potential, and helping transform our energy grid for the 21st century. Firmed renewable energy and storage is not only the cheapest form of energy but provides crucial reliability as increasingly old and unreliable coal fired power stations inevitably exit the system."

The NSW state government has been proactive in funding green energy projects. Last December, it attracted $4.2 billion of projects in its latest tender for wind, solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. The Unngula Windfarm was one of the winners of aid in that tender. That result took the state to almost 50% of its targeted 12 GW of new wind and solar capacity and a quarter of the way to its goal of 2 GW of BESS projects. These are expected to replace aging coal-fired plants due for retirement in the coming decade.

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