POWER December 2013 - 28

TOP PLANTS
1. The first buy. The V112-3.0 MW wind turbines installed at the Macarthur Wind Farm
were Danish wind turbine maker Vestas' first sale of that turbine model (though not the first
installed in the world). About 1,120 heavy lifts were required to join the tower sections, nacelles,
hubs, and blades of the farm's 140 turbines, each of which has a hub height of 85 meters (m)
above ground and a rotor diameter of 112 m. The wind farm, in a region with average wind
speeds of 7.6 m/s, has a capacity factor of 35%. Courtesy: AGL Energy
meetings to ensure the V112-3.0 MW platform
was " the right solution for the project. "
Clearing Hurdles
Finally, though it was " logistically complex, "
Vestas and Leighton Contractors delivered
the wind farm three months ahead of schedule
(see table).
As Vestas Construction Supervisor Gary
Barret recalled, " We would jump over one
hurdle and were confronted with another the
day after. " For one, the V112-3.0 MW turbine
is the biggest wind turbine ever to be installed
in Australia, and that brought about its own
challenges-and eventually even changed
the rules on inland oversized transport.
" Transporting the longest blades and the
als for the significant public road upgrades that
were undertaken by project developers to ease
transportation of a plethora of parts-including
blades, nacelles, and hubs-imported to the
Port of Portland from Denmark.
Siting and Procuring Permits
The Macarthur Wind Farm's 140 turbines
are spread out across 5,500 hectares on three
near-flat farms owned by separate landowners-a
site chosen specifically because it has
" a productive wind regime " and average wind
speeds of about 7.6 m/s, says AGL. Those
are speeds that the U.S. National Renewable
Energy Laboratory would rank as class 5 or
higher, with class 3 or greater designated as
suitable for most utility-scale wind turbine
applications. AGL estimates the project's capacity
factor-the amount of power produced
per year divided by the amount of power that
would be produced if the wind turbines operated
at full capacity all the time-is 35%.
However, the site also offers proximity to
a 500-kV transmission line for connection to
the state grid, and it has good road access to
the Port of Portland, from which most of its
imported heavy equipment was trucked in,
and where many of the wind turbine tower
sections were manufactured. Developers then
procured all necessary permits, including a
state planning permit that set strict noise limits.
Enforced by the Victoria State government,
the permit requires noise monitoring to be carried
out at specific neighboring buildings and
that the noise level from an operating wind
farm at any relevant nominated wind speed
cannot exceed the background noise before
the wind farm was built by more than 5 decibels
(dBA), or a level of 40 dBA, whichever
is greater. AGL has undertaken over 40,000
hours of noise monitoring, and according to
the company, noise loggers installed between
February and March 2013 for an objective as28
sessment
confirm the wind farm remains compliant
with these strict limits.
Newly Launched Technology
Yet another remarkable consideration that qualifies
this project as a POWER Top Plant is that
the Macarthur Wind Farm uses the world's first
purchased Vestas V112-3.0 MW wind turbine
model (Figure 1). The deal between the wind
turbine manufacturer and project developers
for 140 of the newly launched turbines was cemented
in August 2010, and it comprises a full
engineering, procurement, and construction
contract; a 10-year service agreement; and a
VestasOnline Business supervisory control and
data acquisition solution.
For AGL, the choice to use Vestas' new
V112-3.0 MW was based on economics. It allowed
the company to increase the wind farm's
capacity while reducing the number of towers
from 174 to 140, said AGL CEO and Managing
Director Michael Fraser. " This reduces
the environmental footprint of the project and
achieves substantial operating cost savings in
excess of [A]$30 million over the [25-year]
life of the wind farm. " Former co-developer
Meridian Energy revealed that it did " extensive
due diligence " through site visits and technical
Table 1. Macarthur Wind Farm project
schedule. Source: Leighton Contractors
Date
August 2010
Milestone
Contract signed
Mid-November 2010 Site established
August 2011
October 2011
September 2012
October 2012
January 2013
April 2013
Erection of first tower started
First turbines arrive
First turbine commissioned
140th tower erected
140th turbine commissioned
Wind farm officially opens
www.powermag.com
heaviest nacelles required input from various
government and local authorities, with public
safety always at the forefront, " explained
Leighton Contractors Logistics Manager
Brendan Rowe. " No less than four separate
stakeholders were involved with every one
of the 1,120 oversized loads delivered to the
Macarthur Wind Farm site. "
Then, the project's progress was almost
thwarted by flooding that inundated the region
during 2010-2011 because it significantly impacted
the ability to build roads, hardstands, and
foundations. " The excessive rainfall led to the redesign
of the road and hardstand construction, as
well as extensive dewatering of all excavations
until the end of the 2011 winter, " said David
Mawhinney, a project manager with Leighton
Contractors. " The wet weather also held up the
installation of the meteorological masts at the beginning
of the project. These are installed to collect
three months of wind data before the wind
turbines are erected. Consequently, we took the
unusual step of hiring a helicopter to pour the
masts' concrete foundations. "
More to Come
For AGL, one of Australia's largest private
owners and operators of renewable energy
assets, the now-completed Macarthur project
serves as a " base " on which to build a sustainable
energy future. But while Meridian funded
its debt portion of the Macarthur investment
with an award-winning project finance agreement,
the company this June sold its interest
in the farm to Malakoff Corporation Berhad, a
Malaysian power generator and retailer.
According to Meridian Chief Executive
Mark Binns, the company's investment was
intended to be held over the full-project term,
but a " low interest rate environment and the
opportunity to invest in further wind farms in
Australia provided a compelling reason to look
at a sale and the reinvestment of funds in future
renewable generation options in Australia. " ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor
(@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
POWER | December 2013

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POWER December 2013

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