Wind farmers give project all clear

Murra Warra Wind Farm developers have emphatically reassured Horsham district people that stage one of its renewableenergy project is going ahead as planned.

RES Australia’s Murra Warra spokeswoman Susan Findlay-tickner said the project remained ‘on track’ despite community speculation and fears last week that it was at risk of financial collapse.

“For anyone who might have had concerns about contractual circumstances involving the wind farm – we can put their minds at rest,” she said.

“It has always been a case of ‘business as usual’ from our end, but latest news from project contractor Senvion that it is continuing its business operations is great.

“It should provide the district with confidence surrounding the project.”

Senvion, providing the turbines for the Wimmera project, announced late last week that it had signed a EUR 100-million loan agreement with its lenders and main bondholders to continue operations.

As part of a binding loan agreement, the company and partners have created a debtor-in-possession arrangement.

It announced in a prepared statement that the arrangement enabled the company to stabilise its business operations.

The arrangement came shortly after the company filing for self-administration.

Mrs Findlay-tickner said if the general public needed any further reassurances they need only consider that of the 61 turbines Senvion was contracted to provide, 41 were on site at Murra Warra or at port in Australia and 16 were already erected.

“What this latest speculation has revealed is how much emotional investment and goodwill the community has for this project,” she said.

“People are following the progress closely because of the impact it is having and will have not only on Horsham, but also the region.

“People clearly understand the significance this project has for the region and are going to be understandably concerned if there are any perceived anxieties along the way.

“This project has captured the imagination of the district and everyone involved, from the corporate level to sub-contractors, who are tackling it with great enthusiasm.”

Separate projects

Mrs Findlay-tickner stressed that stage one and two of the overall wind farm plans were separate projects.

“Stage one is considerable in its own right,” she said.

“There still needs to be a lot of water to go under the bridge for stage two to get underway in the future, but the outlook is certainly encouraging.

“And let us remind everyone that stages one and two combined will represent the biggest wind-farm project in Australia to date.

“It is a significant groundbreaker both in size and scale.

“Since the project started last year it reached a significant workforce milestone in the last week with the 1000th individual worker clocking on.

“Putting it further into perspective, consider that stage one will provide enough power annually.”

A 226-megawatt $247-million stage one of Murra Warra Wind Farm, developed by RES Australia and owned by Partners Group, has an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Senvion Gmbh and Downer Utilities Australia.

A Telstra-led consortium of energy users, including the ANZ Bank, Cocacola Amatil and the University of Melbourne, signed a power-purchase agreement from the farm in 2017.

Engineers have started ‘energising’ on wind towers for stage one, which is scheduled to be operational and providing power to the electricity grid by August.

Stage two of the overall project includes the installation of 55 wind towers. for 220,000 houses