South Australia leads way in wind generation

South Australia Wind Power hits 1 GW as Lake Bonney Stage 3 and Waterloo windfarm boost renewable energy, with Eyre Peninsula potential, strong capacity factors, Roaring Forties winds, and Macquarie Green Grid insights.

The premier of South Australia has stated that the states title as a leader in renewable energy will be confirmed when 1,000 megawatts MW of wind power capacity is brought online later this year.

Infigen Energys 39MW Lake Bonney Stage 3 project and Roaring 40s Hobart, Tasmania 111MW Waterloo Windfarm will take South Australia past the 1gigawatt GW mark, aligning with the national 7 GW by 2014 target for wind expansion being discussed at the time.

The state expects to meet its renewable energy target of 20 of electricity generated from renewable energy ahead of schedule, and, as renewable efforts accelerate nationally, has stated that the next target is 33 by 2020.

Australias Macquarie Green Grid study says that South Australias Eyre Peninsula region has the space and wind resources, though wind farms may stall under policy uncertainty, to host a further 2,000 MW of conventional wind generation operating above 35 capacity.

At the end of June 2009, Australias total wind generation capacity was 1.494 GW, which is 1.2 of the total electricity generation in Australia. South Australia hosts 11 completed windfarms, and, as it builds electricity exporter capacity within the NEM, more wind power is generated in South Australia that in all other Australian states combined. This is due to its prime position in the Roaring Forties, which, in addition to being the name of a company mentioned above, and as seen with South Africa's first wind farm rollout elsewhere, refers to the latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees south, so called because of the strong and prevailing westerly winds.

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