It comprises of 75 wind turbines whose installation was completed by Mammoet Wind in mid-February. During the same period, 61 of the turbines were commissioned.
The Ararat Wind Farm is jointly owned by a consortium of Renewable Energy Systems (RES), GE, Partners Group on behalf of its clients, and OPTrust.
Its operations will help the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to reach its renewable energy target of 100% by 2020.
ACT Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Shane Rattenbury said: “The farm will generate about 272,000 megawatt-hours of clean, renewable electricity each year which is enough to power around 37,000 Canberra homes and ensure we are well on the way to achieving our 100% renewable electricity target.”
The Ararat Wind Farm is the sixth large-scale renewable electricity generator to commence output backed by ACT feed-in tariffs. Once all the six plants are operational, ACT will source 50% of its electricity from renewable sources.
While RES Australia has been the developer of the Ararat Wind Farm, its operations and management is being handled by Windlab, an ACT wind company.
The Sapphire, Hornsdale Stage 2 and Crookwell 2 wind farms which will begin generating energy next year, and the Hornsdale Stage 3 wind farm which will commence operations in 2019 will ensure that ACT reaches its target on time.
In 2015, the Ararat Wind Farm, which successfully bid for the project in ACT’s first wind auction, had signed an agreement with the government for the purchase of nearly 40% of the electricity generated by the wind farm.
