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(Top) 1 Construction 2 Operations 3 Environmental impact 4 Photo gallery 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Mount Emerald Wind Farm

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Mount Emerald Wind Farm


Country	Australia
Coordinates	17°11′S 145°22′E / 17.183°S 145.367°E / -17.183; 145.367
Status	Operational
Construction began	14 February 2017; 7 years ago (2017-02-14)
Commission date	August 2018; 5 years ago (2018-08)
Construction cost	$400 million
Owner(s)	RATCH-Australia
Operator(s)	RATCH-Australia
Wind farm
Type	Onshore
Hub height	84 m (276 ft) Vestas V112 90 m (295 ft) Vestas V117
Rotor diameter	112 m (367 ft) 117 m (384 ft)
Rated wind speed	50 km/h (13.9 m/s)
Site area	2,400 ha (24 km²)
Site elevation	900 m (2,953 ft)
Power generation


Units operational	16 × 3.3 MW 37 × 3.45 MW
Make and model	Vestas V112-3.3MW Vestas V117-3.45MW
Nameplate capacity	180.5 MW
Annual net output	500-600 GWh
External links
Website	mtemeraldwindfarm.com.au
[edit on Wikidata]

Mount Emerald Wind Farm is a 180 MW wind farm situated on Mount Emerald, in Arriga, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia.^[1] It is approximately 8 km WNW of Tolga, and 49 km SW of Cairns. The project is a joint venture between Port Bajool (land owner) and RATCH-Australia (wind farm developer and operator). RATCH-Australia bought the project from Transfield Services in July 2011.^[2] The wind farm incorporates 53 turbines.^[3]

Construction

[edit]

Approval from the state government came in April 2015.^[4] Federal government approval happened in November 2015, subject to 35 conditions aimed at protecting native species.^[4] The site was formerly used as a military training area in World War II so the site had to be carefully inspected to find any unexpoded ordnance; several were found and safely destroyed.^[5]

Operations

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The wind farm registered its first grid output in August 2018 and reached maximum output in January 2019. The electricity network around the wind farm is generally constrained; this has an impact on the total amount of electricity it can receive from the wind farm. Studies are being undertaken to increasing the capacity of the network using technologies such as synchronous condensers and grid-scale batteries.^[6]^[7]

Mount Emerald Wind Farm Generation (MWh)
Year	Total	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2018	114,356	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2,239	27,237	19,132	30,535	35,213
2019	455,639	39,124	21,108	33,043	62,106	53,452	45,636	33,884	45,804	40,882	33,083	26,186	21,331
2020	348,260	20,204	10,891	36,588	38,551	48,914	56,223	17,879	14,075	33,172	15,113	37,952	18,698
2021		28,953	14,298	36,514	43,141	52,500	30,136	32,432	63,443	59,085	20,474	25,138	32,015
2022		21,812	23,242	26,568	50,452	29,027	53,770	40,093	51,827	37,556	35,440	27,244	26,171
2023		18,820	28,533	23,251	32,791	58,862	43,962	54,560	56,183	61,325

Environmental impact

[edit]

Environmental groups have claimed that the construction of roads and bases for the wind turbines caused significant destruction of the formerly untouched wilderness.^[8]

Photo gallery

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Multiple Wind turbines
Mount Emerald Wind Farm Substation construction
Mount Emerald Wind Farm entry
Mount Emerald Wind Farm Opening Plaque
Mount Emerald wind farm turbine and moon

References

[edit]

^ "MT EMERALD WIND FARMREVISED A-WEIGHTED NOISE ASSESSMENT" (PDF).

^ "Mount Emerald Newsletter 3" (PDF). RATCH-Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2012.

^ Sexton-McGrath, Kristy (27 January 2022). "Fears of 'giant ring of steel' in Far North Queensland with wind farms set to border national parks". ABC News. Retrieved 16 October 2023.

^ ^a ^b Kim, Sharnie; Sharon, Molloy (27 November 2015). "Mt Emerald wind farm proposed for Atherton Tablelands gets conditional Federal approval". ABC News. Retrieved 16 October 2023.

^ "Where the wild wind blows … on the job at the Mount Emerald Wind Farm |". EcoGeneration. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2022.

^ Lee, Dan (30 June 2022). "On the fringes: the outer edges of the NEM remain the most prone to volatile MLFs". WattClarity. Retrieved 26 November 2022.

^ "Network Planning: North Queensland System Strength Constraints" (PDF). Powerlink Queensland. Retrieved 26 November 2022.

^ "'This is utter madness': The massive wind farms angering fans of renewable energy". ABC News. 11 December 2021.

External links

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Mount Emerald wind farm photographs, State Library of Queensland

v t e Wind farms in Australia
New South Wales	Bango Blayney Boco Rock Bodangora Capital Crookwell Cullerin Range Glen Innes Gullen Range Gunning Hampton Sapphire Silverton Taralga White Rock Woodlawn
Queensland	Coopers Gap Dulacca Kennedy Mount Emerald Windy Hill
South Australia	Canunda Cathedral Rocks Clements Gap Hallett Hornsdale Lake Bonney Lincoln Gap Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park Mount Millar Snowtown Starfish Hill Waterloo Wattle Point Willogoleche
Tasmania	Cattle Hill Granville Harbour King Island Musselroe Woolnorth
Victoria	Ararat Bald Hills Bulgana Challicum Hills Chepstowe Codrington Coonooer Bridge Crowlands Dundonnell Hepburn Kiata Lal Lal (Yendon) Leonards Hill Macarthur Maroona Mortons Lane Mount Gellibrand Mount Mercer Murra Warra Oaklands Hill Portland Stockyard Hill Salt Creek Toora Waubra Wonthaggi Yambuk Yaloak South
Western Australia	Albany Badgingarra Collgar Emu Downs Mumbida Nine Mile Beach Ten Mile Lagoon Walkaway Yandin
Proposed wind farms	Archer Point Coppabella Crows Nest Goyder South Kennedy Energy Park Moorabool Stockyard Hill Warradarge
Wind power portal List of wind farms in Australia

v t e Energy in Queensland
Proposed power stations	Archer Point Crows Nest Kennedy Energy Park
Coal	Callide Collinsville Gladstone Kogan Creek Millmerran Stanwell Tarong North Tarong
Gas/kerosene	Barcaldine Braemar Collinsville Condamine Darling Downs Diamantina Leichhardt Mackay Mount Stuart Oakey Phosphate Hill Roma Swanbank E Townsville
Major hydro	Barron Gorge Borumba Dam Kareeya Pioneer-Burdekin Somerset Wivenhoe
Minor hydro	Koombooloomba Tinaroo Wivenhoe Small Hydro
Wind farms	Coopers Gap Dulacca Mount Emerald Windy Hill List of wind farms
Solar power stations	Barcaldine Clare Cloncurry Darling Downs Daydream Emerald Hamilton Hughenden Kidston Lakeland Longreach Ross River Sun Metals Sunshine Coast Western Downs Whitsunday Windorah
Companies	AGL Energy CleanCo Queensland Click Energy CS Energy Energex Envestra Ergon Energy Lumo Energy Origin Energy Powerlink Queensland QGC ReAmped Energy Senex Shell Energy Australia Stanwell Corporation Tarong Energy
Regulators	Australian Energy Market Commission Australian Energy Regulator Department of Energy & Water Supply Queensland Competition Authority
Market operator	Australian Energy Market Operator
Historical	History of electricity supply in Queensland Mica Creek NEMMCO Swanbank A Power Station Swanbank B Power Station Callide A Power Station Tennyson Bulimba New Farm
List of power stations in Queensland

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mount_Emerald_Wind_Farm&oldid=1180713714" Categories: ●Wind farms in Queensland ●Buildings and structures in Far North Queensland ●Energy infrastructure completed in 2018 ●2018 establishments in Australia ●Shire of Mareeba Hidden categories: ●Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas ●Articles with short description ●Short description is different from Wikidata ●Use dmy dates from January 2015 ●Use Australian English from January 2015 ●All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English ●Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata ●Coordinates on Wikidata ●Wind farm articles using Infobox power station ●Pages using the Kartographer extension ●This page was last edited on 18 October 2023, at 10:29 (UTC). ●Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. ●Privacy policy ●About Wikipedia ●Disclaimers ●Contact Wikipedia ●Code of Conduct ●Developers ●Statistics ●Cookie statement ●Mobile view