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Wind Drought
Release Date: 02 February 2007
Just as traditional farmers are dealing with their drought, the Albany wind farm has experienced a ‘wind drought’ since full scale operations began in 2001.
Verve Energy built and operates the wind farm of 12 turbines – the biggest turbines operating in Australia.
Based on 20 years of wind monitoring data, wind speeds were calculated to average almost 32kmh so that the wind farm would produce about 75 gigawatt hours of electricity a year.
So far, annual wind speeds have ranged from an average 30.3kmh in 2003 to just 27.9kmh last year.
Lower wind speeds mean less electricity so that production has varied from 68GWh in 2002 to 58GWh last year.
Verve Energy General Manager Sustainable Energy Greg Denton said that the below average wind speeds probably were the result of fewer cold fronts sweeping across the south coast in recent years.
“Our monitoring showed a cyclical pattern of cold front movements. We anticipate wind activity will pick up over coming years.
“There still is a lot of wind at Albany and in terms of converting the wind energy into electricity, our wind turbines are among the best performers in the world for machines of their type.
“The Albany wind farm continues to be an important source of green electricity and its electricity has been available consistently,” Mr Denton said
Verve Energy is continuing its studies into building another seven wind turbines at Grasmere, adjacent to the Albany facility.
The rising cost and short availability of raw materials and wind turbines in a booming renewable energy sector were affecting the viability and economics of this project, though.
Any queries from the media are directed to Verve Energy's Corporate Relations branch.
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