Wind Energy

7. August 2012

"With the SWT-3.0-101 our customers are buying a high-quality product. The innovative technology of the gearboxless wind turbine is a reliable investment in sustainable energy generation in Australia", says Kay Weber, CEO of the Wind Power Business Unit APAC of Siemens Energy. (Photo: Siemens)

Siemens has secured a contract to supply 90 wind turbines with a total capacity of 270 MW for the wind farm Snowtown 2 in Australia. The customer is the New-Zealand-based energy supply company TrustPower. The contract includes the supply, installation and putting into operation of 90 gearboxless wind turbines of the type SWT-3.0. In addition, Siemens has received a long-term maintenance contract for the project. The installation of the turbines will begin in 2013 and it is planned to put them into operation in 2014.

Snowtown 2 will be built around 140 km north of Adelaide in South Australia. When it goes into operation it will be the largest wind farm in the country. The total capacity of 270 MW will be enough to supply around 180,000 households in the region with electricity.

According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Australia has such outstanding wind conditions that wind power could contribute to the country's energy mix in a far greater way than has so far been the case. GWEC estimates that the currently installed wind energy capacity of 2200 MW will triple to around 6900 MW by 2016.

Katharina Garus