Wind Energy
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What is it?
Wind energy generates electricity by using the wind to turn the blades of giant turbines. When the wind blows, it spins the turbine blades, driving a generator to produce electricity.
Wind turbines are installed in places with strong, consistent winds and are often spread across large areas to generate significant amounts of clean energy. Wind energy is a key part of Western Australia’s transition to a reliable, low emissions electricity system.
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Why is it important to us?
Wind is a free and natural resource that is readily available in many parts of WA. While wind conditions can vary across our State, WA generally has very strong wind profiles, including world-class resources in places like the Goldfields, the Mid West and the Pilbara. This means wind energy will play an essential role in WA’s energy transition, generating clean energy at scale right across our State.
Where is it being rolled out?
With our extensive coastal areas, gentle hills, and flat plains, WA has many areas suitable for wind farm operations.
In fact, Australia’s first-ever wind farm was built near Esperance way back in 1987, and there are already operational wind farms in the Mid West, South West, Great Southern, and Wheatbelt regions. There are also new wind projects planned in other parts of WA, including the Pilbara and Goldfields. Once operational, many of these projects will help power our communities and operations in strategic industries like mining and mineral processing.
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Components of a wind farm project
While there can be varying types of wind farm projects, the vast majority will include wind turbines and their associated parts (blades, hub, nacelle, tower, and foundation), access tracks, a meteorological mast for weather monitoring, cables for internal power transmission, and administration and maintenance buildings.
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How energy moves from a wind farm
Transmission refers to the infrastructure that moves large amounts of energy from one place to another. It works in a similar way to WA’s network of highways and roads, taking power from where it is generated and moving it via towers, poles and wires to homes and businesses.
For most wind farms, a connecting transmission line links the project to a 'substation'. A substation is a secure facility containing electrical transformers, switches and other equipment, which ‘steps up’ energy by raising its voltage so it can move through the broader transmission grid.
Energy is then moved through the grid to another substation nearer to where it will be used. This substation ‘steps down’ the energy, lowering the voltage so it can be transferred into the distribution system (the smaller poles and wires you will often see on residential streets) and transported to our homes and businesses.
The network operator – usually either Western Power or Horizon Power, depending on the location - operates electricity substations, along with the poles and wires that connect renewable energy projects to the grid.
The wind farm developer is usually responsible for planning and progressing construction of the connecting transmission line that links the wind farm to the substation and broader grid. The network operator will be responsible for any transmission or connecting lines that are common-use infrastructure.
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