Granville Harbour Wind Farm, Tasmania
Client: Palisade Investment Partners (owner’s engineer); Zinfra (220 kV connection)
Location: Granville Harbour, Tasmania
Date: August 2017 – July 2020
Providing owner’s engineer and due diligence services to support construction of a new 112 MW wind farm
Background
The west coast of Tasmania is exposed to the roaring forties winds, an excellent resource for wind farms. The 112 MW $280 million Granville Harbour Wind Farm project developed by Palisade Investment Partners on a west coast cattle farm will harness that resource to boost Tasmania’s wind power capacity by one-third.
The Granville Harbour Wind Farm will contribute significantly to the expansion of Tasmania’s renewable energy capacity. This will help to enable the ‘Battery of the Nation’ initiative, which aims to export more flexible, dispatchable renewable energy into the National Electricity Market to support Australia’s energy transition.
Solution
Entura was engaged to support the technical due diligence for the project, as well as perform the role of Owner’s Engineer during construction. We also worked on the design and commissioning solution for the transmission line, substation and grid connection.
As part of the technical due diligence to support the client’s financial close on the project, we developed technical specifications and contractual warranties, performed an energy estimate, reviewed permits and grid connection, undertook environmental compliance checks, and reviewed the project design.
As Owner’s Engineer during construction, we reviewed the design and delivered construction support. This included providing technical advice, overseeing the civil and geotechnical components of construction, and inspecting the site to ensure the works were undertaken safely and in accordance with the design and industry standards.
A multidisciplinary team of more than 50 people were involved in designing, testing and commissioning a new 220 kV switching station and 11 km of transmission lines to facilitate the 220 kV connection of the wind farm to the Tasmanian grid via a connection point at the existing Reece Dam.
Services provided
– technical due diligence including:
- energy estimate
- permit reviews
- project design
- grid connection
– Owner’s Engineer including:
- site inspections
- technical advice
- design reviews
– transmission line design, test and commissioning
Outcome
Our work resulted in a successful high-quality result for our clients. The final of 31 x 3.6 MW turbines was erected in late 2020, and the wind farm is exporting up to 112 MW of clean energy into Tasmania’s energy grid, equivalent to supplying around 46 000 homes.
