Neoen starts site work at Goyder South wind farm at Burra

Hundreds of jobs will be created in the Mid North and power prices will fall with work starting at SA’s biggest energy project.

Work has started on the site of a huge renewable energy project at Burra which will create 400 construction jobs and lower power prices.

French company Neoen has formally given the go-ahead for 75 wind turbines to be erected southwest of the Mid North town.

“The wind resource in this area is incredible, it’s absolutely world class,” Neoen Australia managing director Louis De Sambucy said.

“We look forward to building on this strong foundation, adding solar and batteries in the future to deliver firm 24/7 renewable energy.”

The project is the first stage of Neoen’s Goyder South project, which will eventually be a $3bn investment of wind, solar and battery.

The wind farm, which is due to be operational by 2024, will help cut power prices by complementing the high capacity of solar which has slashed SA prices in the middle of the day.

Neoen Australia managing director Louis de Sambucy.

Deputy Premier and Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan welcomed “the start of SA’s largest approved renewable energy project”.

“This is huge for the Burra community – with community funding, ongoing landowner payments, employment and eco-tourism opportunities supporting a community who are used to the challenges of living near Goyder’s line,” Mr van Holst Pellekaan said.

“Projects such as Goyder South help our government’s green hydrogen ambitions, with Neoen a key proponent of hydrogen in SA.

“This will provide another way for our world-class renewables to be exported to the world so we can generate 500 per cent renewable energy by 2050.”

The Goyder South project won state government development approval in March last year.

At that time, Neoen expected to create 300 jobs but will now put in more capacity sooner, requiring 100 more workers. Once complete, about 12 full-time permanent workers will run the farm.

The project will recruit firstly from the region and then broader South Australia.

“It’ll start next month and ramp up over the next six to nine months,” Mr De Sambucy said.

It will connect to the electricity grid at Robertstown which is the starting point of Project EnergyConnect, the $2.3bn interconnector to NSW being built by ElectraNet and Transgrid.

Without the interconnector “it would have been impossible” to give the financial go-ahead to the wind farm, Mr De Sambucy said.

Landowner Angus Stockman, from Glenowie stud, and Hannah Wilson, from Neoen, inspect the windfarm site at Hanson, southwest of Burra. With Alan the kelpie.

The interconnector will enable it to sell power to NSW, which faces major supply challenges in coming years as its ageing coal plants shut down.

Neoen has already signed up the ACT government on a 14-year contract for 100 megawatts of the farm’s 412MW. The farm’s capacity will be equivalent to 80 per cent of the former Northern power station at Port Augusta.

The construction contract has been awarded to Spanish company Elecnor and GE Renewable Energy which will supply GE turbines.

Mr De Sambucy said the cost of stage 1 was not being made public now because many contracts were still being negotiated.

But “it is committed” he said, and acknowledged it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The full $3bn Goyder South has approval for 1200MW of wind, 600MW of solar and a 900MW battery.

Neoen owns the big battery at Jamestown, the Hornsdale Power Reserve, and several projects interstate.

Mr De Sambucy said Neoen’s Crystal Brook Energy Park, is proceeding through approvals and technical planning.

The Crystal Brook project includes a hydrogen manufacturing plant in Port Pirie.