Tasmania is all set to make significant strides in renewable energy generation and is poised to become the sustainable energy battery of the nation. This development has been made possible by the operations commencement of the area’s revolutionary wind farm project Cattle Hill.

The Cattle Hill Wind Farm has reportedly begun the generation and supply of electricity to the state’s power grid. Out of a total 48, 31 Goldwind turbines have been installed completely, with on-site installation implemented by two main cranes.

Goldwind MD, John Titchen has stated that the project’s opening ceremony, held on 6th December marked a significant milestone for the project.

He claimed that once fully operational, the wind farm would be able to produce enough sustainable energy to provide power to nearly 63,500 households in Tasmania each year.

Furthermore, the project will aid the Tasmanian government in achieving their target of an additional 1000 GWh of renewable on-island energy by 2022, which would contribute to approximately half of the required additional generation.

This development comes after numerous environmental challenges faced by the project during construction. Bushfires, wind and snow conditions and the need to schedule jobs to mitigate disturbance during the breeding period of the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagle presented considerable roadblocks to project development.

However, the laser focus of the project team, backed by interaction with project stakeholders facilitated the progress of the project, with a relatively unimpacted project schedule.

Industry experts claim that the development of this project has created nearly 150 on-site & additional offsite jobs from Tasmanian project partners.

The Cattle Hill wind farm is also apparently the first wind project in Australia to incorporate cutting-edge eagle monitoring and detection technologies. 16 of these IdentiFlight stations have been set up across the site to detect Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagles and power down the necessary turbines.

In March, the transportation of Goldwind turbine components began, following Launceston-based company Gradco’s $10 million worth of road upgrades, in the Central Highlands location. Around 528 oversized loads have reportedly been transferred to the project site.

Source Credit: https://reneweconomy.com.au/cattle-hill-wind-farm-starts-sending-power-to-the-grid-in-tasmania-41223/