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The wind project forms part of the Walcha hybrid energy development in New South Wales, over 400km north of Sydney.<\/p>\n
Vestas has acquired a “majority stake” in the first phase of the wind element of the project \u2014 Winterbourne \u2014 from developer Walcha Energy, while a “small percentage” is held by community stakeholders.<\/p>\n
Walcha Energy is a joint venture between Australian advisory firms Energy Estate and Mirus Wind.<\/p>\n
It is the Danish manufacturer\u2019s largest known investment in owning and developing a wind project after taking its first step in such a direction when it\u00a0acquired a 40% stake in two wind projects<\/a>\u00a0in Sweden in May 2018.<\/p>\n Vestas partnered with Vattenfall and pension fund PKA in acquiring the Blakiden and F\u00e4bodberget projects \u2014 to which Vestas will also supply its V136-4.2MW turbines.<\/p>\n Speaking to\u00a0Windpower Monthly<\/em>\u00a0after the Swedish acquisition in June 2018, Vestas\u2019 president of northern and central Europe Nils de Baar said the manufacturer had to look at\u00a0“creating value beyond turbine sales”<\/a>\u00a0in a post-subsidy market.<\/p>\n Vestas is also developing wind sites in the US, through its Steelhead Americas subsidiary. It has a pipeline of roughly 3GW and\u00a0signed a corporate PPA<\/a>\u00a0with household goods producer General Mills in April.<\/p>\n Overall, the 4GW Walcha Energy hybrid project could include up to 3.4GW of wind capacity, plus solar and pumped hydro.<\/p>\n “The Vestas investment will accelerate development of the Winterbourne wind farm and will help unlock the considerable renewable energy potential of the wider\u2026 region,” Walcha Energy said in a statement.<\/p>\n According to Walcha Energy, the next stage of development, which will be now led by Vestas, will include environmental impact assessments ahead of permitting applications in 2020.<\/p>\n