Codrington Wind Farm

The Codrington Wind Farm became fully operational in June 2001. Developed, owned and operated by Pacific Hydro Limited it has a rated capacity of 18.2 MW. It is the first privately funded wind farm in Australia. Pacific Hydro Limited is a publicly listed, independent power producer dedicated to the development of sustainable and efficient energy in Australia. The Codrington Wind Farm has a wind regime which, driven by prevailing winds off the nearby ocean, enjoys an annual mean wind speed about 8m/s. This paper examines a number of significant issues concerning this project including the chosen technology, the project schedule, performance and operational parameters. Significant parameters of the wind farm are compared with those from wind farms operating elsewhere in the world to put the project into a global perspective. This project has progressed in an environment of change and progress. Relevant issues covering the political, economic and planning climate of the electricity industry are also reviewed. 1. BACKGROUND Early in 1999 Pacific Hydro made a decision to proceed with the feasibility stage of constructing a wind farm on the Codrington site. After tendering for the supply and installation of monitoring equipment, a 12 month on site, monitoring program was commenced in August 1999. The initial phase of monitoring was used for correlation with long term Bureau of Meteorology data from the closest suitable Automatic Weather Station, Port Fairy. Detailed wind mapping of the site, design and specification of a wind farm for the Codrington site were commenced in February 2000. Following the design phase, tenders were called in March 2000, then assessment of the tenders and negotiation followed with a contract being awarded to the successful turnkey supplier, AN Windenergie using Bonus turbines in August 2000.