Snowtown Wind Farm
A winter's day


    


Photography by Dave Clarke. More of my wind turbine photos are on Flickr

The Snowtown Wind Farm is one of a group of farms built in the Mid North of South Australia.

The images on this page have been compressed for faster loading - this may have noticeably reduced the quality of some images. (These images are typically around 0.3MP and the files 30kB, the originals were 5 or 6MP and around 1MB.)

This page created 2008/08/05, last edited 2023/10/02
Contact: David K. Clarke – ©

2007/12/28
First turbine

Dog on a quest The first turbine to operate

This turbine produced more than a megawatt of power before Christmas of 2007 and thereby a big bonus for Suzlon.

The big crane can be seen lying on the ground at the foot of the turbine.

It looks like the little dog (Socrates) is off on a quest.

2007/12/28

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2008/05/05
Foggy morning

Fog at Snowtown Fog streamers blowing past two of the newly built turbines

The turbine on the left was running, hence the multiple images of the blades (from the HDR photography used for this image).

2008/05/05

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Fog and turbines These turbines were not yet running (another HDR image)

On this morning I waited about an hour for an improvement in the weather, and just about the time I was ready to decide to cut my losses and leave, the clouds broke and these streamers of fog blew across the top of the hills.

2008/05/05


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2008/05/30
From 40km east

Sunset Seen from a hill near my property (Elysium, Armagh, Clare Valley) 40km to the east of the wind farm. The air must be clear and the light suitable to get such a photo from this sort of distance. It is necessary for there to be strong contrast between the turbines and the sky behind; sunlight on the turbines with dark clouds behind can also be effective.

The focal length used in this photo, in 35mm film camera terms, is 430mm.

2008/05/30


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2008/07/27
Under construction

Cumulus Cumulus clouds behind three of the newly erected Snowtown turbines

The clouds make a more interesting view.

2008/07/27



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Dead sheoak There are a few scattered sheoak (Alocasuarina verticilata) trees near the top of the ridge; many of them dead. (Seedling sheoaks are very palatable to the sheep that have grazed these hills for well over a hundred years. If the young trees are to survive they must be protected from grazing. Many of the older trees have died, there have been no replacements for them.)

2008/07/27

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Pt Broughton plain A tower section lying down on the left, looking toward the Port Broughton plain in the north-west

2008/07/27



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crane One of the two main cranes used for the high lifts. The yellow weights above the man were marked 10 tonnes each, there was a similar stack on the other side of the crane.

There is a smaller but much more mobile 300-tonne crane just visible on the right of the photo.

2008/07/27



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Crane in foreground Looking through a small section of a big construction crane that was lying on the ground toward a part finished tower

2008/07/27



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Sun and clouds A small patch of sunshine peaks through a gap in the wintery sky.

Note the lack of trees and the rounded hills; ideal for wind farming, nothing to slow the wind or make the flow turbulent.

The more distant turbines were working on this day, only one of the nearer ones was.

Looking north

2008/07/27



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Turbine in sunshine Watery late afternoon sunshine catching one of the turbines

Again looking over the Port Broughton plain (Spencer Gulf in the distance on the left, southern Flinders Ranges in the distance on the right).

2008/07/27



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2008/11/02
Opening day

Opening day Opening day

The weather was threatening rain, but while there was drizzle in the early morning the remainder of the day was dry.

Brendan Ryan of Suzlon in the yellow vest.

2008/11/02



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Opening day - turbine blades These blades are awaiting transport to the Hallett Hill Wind Farm, at this time under construction.

One of the scarce Barunga Range trees can be seen on this photo. While getting them to grow on top of the range might be difficult, they would do well enough in the gullies on the flanks of the range, especially on the slopes with a southern aspect.

2008/11/02


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Opening day - busses Busses took anyone interested to the top of the Barunga Range for a close-up view of the Wind Farm.

The view on opening day from the top of the Barunga Range

2008/11/02



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2008/12/19
Sunrise, the northern end

Northern-most The northern-most turbine, looking north; sunrise

It is possible to get within about a kilometre of the turbines via Hope Gap road, but there is a goodly climb from the road to the top of the range.

All the turbines are on privately owned land.

2008/12/19


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Looking south Looking south from the northern end of the wind farm; there are 47 turbines in the wind farm.

The lack of trees is conspicuous in this photo. Australian farmers, or at least Mid North South Australian farmers, are not good at providing shade and shelter for their stock.

2008/12/19

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Looking south Looking south from the northern end of the wind farm

Shortly after sunrise

2008/12/19



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Turbine and Moon It happened that the Moon was well placed to allow this shot

There is only a relatively short period in the early morning and late afternoon when the brightness of both moon and objects such as turbines are suitable for photographing together.

2008/12/19



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Turbine and Moon A detail from the above photo



2008/12/19



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Movement blur The turbines appeared to be turning quite leasurely, but the blade in this photo shows movement blur in spite of the 1/250 second 'shutter speed'.

2008/12/19

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Salt lakes Looking east from the top of the Barunga Range

There had been a big rain a few days earlier and the salt lakes all contained some water.

2008/12/19



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