Emu Downs Wind Farm

The Emu Downs Wind Farm (30°30′S 115°20′E) is a 79.2 MW wind farm in Western Australia. It was a joint development between Stanwell Corporation and Griffin Energy. The site is approximately 200 kilometres north of Perth, near Cervantes. Construction of the $180 million project commenced in November 2005, and the project was commissioned in October 2006.[1]

Emu Downs Wind Farm
Wind turbine at Emu Downs
CountryAustralia
LocationWestern Australia
Coordinates30°30′S 115°20′E
StatusOperational
Construction beganNovember 2005 (2005-11)
Commission dateOctober 2006 (2006-10)
Construction costA$180m
Owner(s)APA Group
Wind farm
TypeOnshore
Hub height68.5 metres (225 ft)
Rotor diameter82 metres (269 ft)
Power generation
Units operational48 × 1.65 MW
Make and modelVestas V82
Nameplate capacity79.2 MW
Capacity factor36.16% (2007)
Annual net output250.9 GWh (2007)
External links
Websitewww.apa.com.au/our-services/other-energy-services/wind-farms/
CommonsRelated media on Commons

Emu Downs consists of 48 Vestas wind turbines (each with 1.65 MW generating capacity), a substation, interconnection to the main 132 kV electricity grid, administration and stores buildings, and a network of access roads. The wind farm is close to the coast, with a good quality wind resource that has increased wind speeds and reliability aligning with periods for peak power demand.[1] The prevailing wind blows from the east in the mornings and the Fremantle Doctor from the west in the afternoons.[2]

The wind farm provides electricity to the grid. 260 km (160 mi) to the south there is the Kwinana Desalination Plant, located just south of Perth, and turns water from the Indian Ocean into nearly 152 million litres (40 million gallons) of drinking water per day.[3]

Emu Downs is accredited under the Australian Government's Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 and as a Green Power Generator by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority.[1]

In June 2011, the wind farm was acquired by the APA Group for $170 million from the failed Griffin Group.[4]

When APA group bought Emu Downs, it realised that there is usually a drop in output in the middle of the day as the wind changes. To balance that and achieve better utilisation of transmission infrastructure, APA installed the 20MW Emu Downs Solar Farm on the adjacent site. Its peak output is during the time when the wind farm is not at full capacity, so no additional capacity was needed in the substation or grid connection point. The solar farm began operation in December 2017.

The output of both the solar and wind farms is contracted to Synergy until 2030.[2] The adjacent 130MW Badgingarra Wind Farm was completed in 2019, and has higher capacity factor due to newer components.[5]

Operations

AEMO records begin in September 2006 for the wind farm. The generation table uses AEMO Facility SCADA to obtain generation values for each month. Emu Downs's code is EDWFMAN_WF1, so that is used as part of a SUMIF operation (shown below) on the table to get the total. Note that each month's values start 8 hours into the respective month and extend 8 hours into the next month.

=SUMIF(E2:E Last Row,"*EDWFMAN_WF1*",F2:F Last Row)
Emu Downs Wind Farm Generation (MWh)
Year Total Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2006 71,113 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 5,056 20,605 19,574 25,878
2007 250,864 21,724 17,443 27,764 16,301 15,424 28,522 25,814 15,479 13,261 20,693 21,205 27,234

Note: Asterisk indicates power output was limited during the month.

References
  1. "Emu Downs Wind Farm" (PDF). APA Group. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  2. "WA's first co-located wind and solar farm completed at Emu Downs". Australian Renewable Energy Agency. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. Sullivan, Michael (18 June 2007). "Australia Turns to Desalination Amid Water Shortage". NPR. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  4. Bennet, Michael (25 June 2011). "Gas player APA's $170m Emu Downs wind farm buy confuses analysts". The Australian. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  5. Parkinson, Giles (10 June 2020). "Why W.A. is emerging as the new hot spot for wind energy in Australia". RenewEconomy. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. calendar 2019 the best performing wind farm – with an average capacity factor of 46 per cent – was the relatively new Badgingarra wind farm
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