A wonderful achievement

	Snowtown Stage 1, Mid-North SA On a hot, dusty, summer's day Snowtown stages 1 and 2 have a total of 138 turbines with an installed capacity of 371MW.
	Brown Hill Range, one of the Hallett wind farms, Mid-North SA Late winter The 167 turbines of the four operating wind farms in the Hallett area have a total installed capacity of 351MW
	Waterloo, Mid-North SA Sunrise in late autumn As of late 2016 the 43 turbines of Waterloo stages 1 and 2 had a total installed capacity of 129MW
	Clements Gap turbines with a low fog, Mid-North SA Early morning in spring There are 27 turbines at Clements Gap with a total installed capacity of 57MW
	Hornsdale Wind Farm, from a drone Early morning in early summer The first stage of Hornsdale was finished in late 2016. It consited of 32 turbines with a total installed capacity of 100MW Stages 2 and 3 were then contracted; Stage 2 being under construction. These would add a further 67 turbines and 209MW bringing the total for Hornsdale to 309MW.

Mid-North South Australia is carbon-negative

The Mid-North is probably the first region in the nation to abate more carbon than it releases into the atmosphere and this is due mainly to wind power!

Total emissions for Australia (about 2014) were 538 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses per year, so on average each Australian is responsible for 23 tonnes each year. Figuring on a population of 43,000 for the Mid-North we can calculate the region's annual emissions at around one million tonnes.

On the other side of the equation our wind farms abated something like three million tonnes of greenhouse carbon dioxide each year by replacing fossil fuel-generated electricity with clean, renewable electricity.

All those who have had some part in supporting the construction of these environmental assets deserve a pat on the back. They will be able to tell their grandchildren that they did their bit to minimise the climate change disaster.

Data sources:

1. Total annual per-capita emissions for Australia were published by the Department of the Environment in their National Greenhouse Inventory, December 2019 via Wikipedia, 22-25 tonnes.

   Top Home page Wind home Index

2. Population of the five council districts that make up the Mid-North (Clare & Gilbert Valleys, Goyder, Northern Areas, Pt Pirie Regional, Wakefield Plains) were taken from Australian Bureau of Statistics figures; total 42,726; so approximate annual emissions would be expected to be between 940,000 and 1,070,000 tonnes.
3. Abatement per megawatt-hour generated by wind farms was from a report by Sinclair Knight Merz, for the Clean Energy Council; 1.02 tonnes CO₂ in South Australia.
4. The two Snowtown Wind Farms, stage 1 and 2, alone abate 1,045,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year.

Mid-North wind farms include:

Bluff Range

53 MW

Brown Hill Range

95 MW

Clements Gap

57 MW

Hallett Hill

71 MW

Hornsdale

315 MW

North Brown Hill

132 MW

Snowtown, stages 1 and 2

369 MW

Waterloo, stages 1 and 2

129 MW

Willogoleche

119 MW

That is a total of 1,340 MW.

---

The calculations, for those who are interested

Assuming a conservative capacity factor of 30%, one can calculate an annual generation of about 3,500,000 MWh/year (1,340 × 0.3 × 24 × 365 = 3,521,520), abating about three and a half million tonnes of CO₂ per year (3,521,520 × 1.02 = 3,591,950).

---

So the amount of abatement is more than three times the amount of emissions that the population of the Mid-North would be expected to be responsible for.

Mid-North SA, with its wind farms, is showing what can be done

At the end of 2015 Australia had about 3 GW of installed solar PV power and about the same amount of installed wind power. There was also some bio-gas energy – mainly from land fill methane recovery – very little solar thermal, geothermal and wave energy, and no tidal energy development.

Australia's wind farms were generating about 9000 GWh of electricity each year and its solar was generating around half that (solar PV has about half the capacity factor of wind turbines).

The big new Snowtown Stage 2 Wind Farm, which I can see from near where I live, had recently been completed. It added 270 MW to Australia's renewable energy generating capacity and increased South Australia's installed wind power to 1475 MW; close to half of Australia's total at the time. In SA 890 MW, 60% of our wind power, was in the Mid-North.

The Mid-North's wind farms reduce Australia's greenhouse gas production by around three million tonnes each year from what it would have been if our power was still being generated by burning fossil fuels. This is a wonderful achievement; a great step toward taking on the climate change and ocean acidification problems.

The population of the five council districts in the Mid-North is 43 000 so our wind farms were generating around 7200 Watts per Mid-North resident. Average home power consumption per person in the Mid-North was around 260 Watts.

In terms of installed wind power the Watts per person in the Mid-North was 21 000, compared to Denmark (by far the leading nation in the world) which had about 860. Australia, as a whole, had about 117 Watts of installed wind power per person and was ranked about 15th among the world's nations.

Top Home page Wind home Index

In a world that is being greatly damaged by climate change and in which the oceans are steadily becoming more acidic because of the carbon dioxide that they are being forced to absorb, this renewable energy development in our own back yard is something of which we, the people of the Mid-North, should be intensely proud. Instead, because we are in what may be the slowest nation in the world to wake up to the climate change threat, rather than pride we have apathy, and among a significant number of people, ill-informed fear.

Local benefits

A local wind farm provides employment, especially during construction, but also some long-term jobs. During construction it brings work for local contractors and business for accommodation providers, cafes, delis, hotels, etc. (See Why Support Wind Power?) The farmers who host the turbines receive substantial additional income and wind farm operators in Australia almost always provide funding for local developments.

Unlike coal-fired power stations, which kill millions of people each year world wide and cause many more serious illnesses from their air pollution, the Mid-North's wind turbines harm no one. In fact our wind turbines save lives by displacing coal-fired power stations. For example, one of Port Augusta's coal-fired power stations has been closed down and another only operates about half of each year, largely because of the electricity generated by the Mid-North's wind farms.

The Mid-North wind farms

The biggest is Snowtown which, including the recently finished second stage, has an installed capacity of 371 MW and is second in Australia after Macarthur in Victoria (420 MW). Interestingly, while Snowtown WF is not quite as big as Macarthur in terms of installed capacity, Snowtown is more productive in electricity generation; it generates more electricity than any other wind farm in Australia.

Coming next in the Mid-North, and in Australia, is the Hallett group at 351 MW; (the third biggest wind farm in Australia if considered as one unit).

There are also Waterloo at 111 MW and Clements Gap at 57 MW.

The Mid-North wind farms are among the most productive in Australia. While the weighted average capacity factor for SE Australia's wind farms is about 35%, the figure for those in the Mid-North is close to 40%. (The weighted average takes into account not just the capacity factor of the wind farms but also the size of each.)

Update – late 2016

Not included in the calculations above was the Hornsdale Wind Farm and the second stage of Waterloo Wind farm.

In late 2016 the first stage of Hornsdale was completed and operating, with an installed capacity of 100MW. The second stage, another 100MW, was under construction and the third stage, 109MW, was contracted.

The second stage of Waterloo Wind Farm, 18MW, was operating.

News, August 2017

I recently heard that work had started on yet another wind farm between Jamestown and Burra, Willogoleche Wind Farm; another 32 state-of-the-art turbines.

Reality check

Top Home page Wind home Index

In a time when climate change, ocean acidification, sea level rise and ocean warming are obviously going to be disastrous for the planet and consequently the reduction of greenhouse emissions should be high on everyone's agendas my impression is that most Australians don't care much; at least not enough to try to do anything about the problem. Also, most people in the Mid-North seem to me to be unaware of the exemplary nature of the renewable energy developments in their region.

Note the turbines on the ridge in the background.

Unlike most of the residents of the Mid-North, who are largely apathetic about climate change and wind farms, the people of Snowtown are proud of their wind farm and are very pleased to make it a positive for their town.

They deserve to be proud of themselves; the world needs more people like them.

Some Mid-North SA Windfarm photos

Hornsdale

My wife, dog, drone and I, with several cameras visited the Hornsdale and North Brown Hill wind farms on 2021/09/23.

Updates

Update October 2019

Operating

Since writing this page Snowtown Stage 2 Wind Farm (270 MW) has been completed, Willogoleche Wind Farm (119 MW) has been built near Hallett, Stage 2 of Waterloo Wind Farm (18 MW) has been built and all three stages of Hornsdale Wind Farm (315 MW) have been built near Jamestown, all in Mid-North South Australia.

Proposed and approved

Both the Crystal Brook Energy Park, involving wind, solar and a battery (total of up to 125 MW wind and up to 150 MW solar) and Twin Creek Wind Farm (up to 185 MW) have received government approval. (Note: While it was widely reported that Twin Creek has been given approval I have also read that it was approved by the State Commission Assessment Panel [SCAP] I have not heard that it has received ministerial approval.)

Proposed

The giant Goyder Renewables Zone project was announced in September. It involves up to 2000 MW of wind power, up to 1000 MW of solar and a battery of up to 1500 MW.

Then there are the proposed solar projects (without linked wind power):

• Robertstown Solar, 500 MW, about 5 kM northeast of Robertstown;
• Solar River Project, 30 kM from Robertstown, first stage 200 MW solar and 100 MW battery, aiming at a December 2019 construction start; second stage is another 200 MW aiming at a Q3 2021 construction start;
• Chaff Mill Solar Farm near Mintaro, 100 MW;
• Bungama Solar near Port Pirie, 240 MW and a 140 MW/560 MWh battery.

That's a total of 4,700 MW proposed new renewable energy in the Mid-North (2,310 MW of wind and 2,390 MW of solar), nearly equal to all the wind power in Australia at the end of 2017 (solar at the time was a small fraction of that). Even if only half of it is built, Mid-North South Australia looks like holding its place as Renewables Leader in Australia for the foreseeable future.

Late October

I've just read of an 8.9 MW (DC) solar farm that has been built at Baroota, near Port Germein on northern Spencer Gulf. It is discussed in an article in RenewEconomy, dated 2019/10/22 and written by Sophie Vorrath. It was reported that the 23,200 panels were installed in only eight weeks using Meralli's "Belectric PEG frame system" and that a battery is being considered as a future addition.

---

Update September 2021

Quoting from Giles Parkinson's article in RenewEconomy of 2021/09/21:

"The final turbine has been installed at what will be Australia’s biggest wind and solar hybrid facility, with “energisation” expected soon as the connection approval is finalised and first production due in the next three months. The 317MW Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park (PAREP) combines 50 wind turbines and more than 250,000 solar modules, with 210MW of wind capacity and 107MW of solar capacity."

Port Augusta is a little to the north of the Mid-North region.

Home
Wind home
Top

Home
Wind home
Top