Western Australia’s biggest wind farm, the Yandin Wind Farm, was officially opened yesterday and is now powering businesses across the state with clean energy.
Located in the wheatbelt town of Dandaragan, 175 kilometres north of Perth, Yandin is a RATCH-Australia and Alinta Energy investment.
It is managed by Alinta Energy and is expected to produce more renewable energy than any other wind farm in WA, using 51 4.2MW turbines supplied by global manufacturer Vestas.
Dandaragan is now on the map for its windy conditions. While most wind farms rely on strong and consistent wind from one direction, Dandaragan is buffeted from different directions at different times – a south-westerly in the afternoon, and an easterly overnight. Coupled with the latest turbine technology, it will be one of the best performing wind farms in the country.
Alinta Energy’s executive director of merchant energy, Ken Woolley, said the wind farm would power the equivalent of approximately 200,000 households across Western Australia each year.
“The capacity factor for this project is around 50 per cent. Without getting into engineering-speak, that’s better than most other wind farms we know of in the country,” he said.