A recent study conducted by the CSIRO found that contrary to popular belief, there is in fact strong community support for wind farms within rural Australia. Conducting interviews with wind farm developers, community stakeholders and councils over nine locations, the report illustrated much higher support for these clean energy initiatives than what has usually been portrayed within the media.
One such case study was Infigen Energy’s Capital Wind Farm development near Bungendore in New South Wales. With strong community consultation and expert development, Capital Wind Farm was considered successful, registering strong cooperation from those within the area. To complement this development near Bungendore, Infigen Energy in collaboration with Veolia Environmental Services, recently finished construction on the Woodlawn Wind Farm located at Tarago, some 250km south of Sydney.
The Wind Farm is located on Veolia’s Eco-precinct, which covers 6,000 hectares and also includes the Woodlawn Bioreactor, a specially-designed landfill that converts methane generated from household waste into energy.
Owned and operated by Infigen Energy, the Woodlawn Wind Farm consists of 23 wind turbines, converting enough electricity to power over 30,000 average Australian households per year.
A wind turbine is able to generate electrical or mechanical energy by transforming kinetic energy that is naturally produced by the wind. The rotor blades capture this kinetic energy and then transfer it to an electrical generator where it is then combined with a transformer, along with other control equipment to create electrical energy. The consequent electrical energy is then sold back to the national grid.
Wind energy is known to have the, ”lowest lifecycle emissions of all energy production technologies,”¹ in comparison to traditional methods, wind energy emits no toxic substances like air pollutants, particulate deposits and/or greenhouse gases and does not produce water pollution or radioactive waste. Additionally, as a wind turbine takes only 3-6months to produce enough energy to cover its installation, maintenance and decommissioning, it is consequently an environmentally sound instalment.
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