Twenty years ago, it was the first wind farm constructed on the east coast of NSW. It would go on to play an educational role in the industry. It is anticipated that, when decommissioned, it will play a similar role.
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Operators Tilt Renewables say the Crookwell 1 Wind Farm will continue to operate, despite it being near the end of its projected scope of use.
There is yet to be a wind farm decommissioned in Australia, and there is no date set for the dismantling of Crookwell 1, said Tilt Renewables’ general manager of generation and trading, Nigel Baker.
He added that the company had “looked at the turbines and assets and we don’t see that they can’t continue to operate safely”.
There are eight turbines at Crookwell 1, with an annual output of eight gigawatt (8000 megawatt) annually. This varies, due to winds, within plus or minus 10 to 15 per cent. The turbines generate electricity most of the time, but not always at full output.
A typical household uses eight megawatt per year. If Crookwell 1 were fully operational 100 per cent of the time, it would power 1000 houses for a year.
Decommissioning a wind farm would only occur when the turbines are worn and degraded, Mr Baker said, as the engineering design is predicted to last for a certain amount of revolutions before the fatigue loads on the turbine that are exposed to wind and vibration would damage the component. “Those machines at that site are well maintained,” he said.
Cattle producer John Carter lives on a property adjacent to Crookwell 1. He is concerned when the site will be decommissioned and rehabilitated, because at some sites in the US, producers have just up and left, he said.
Further, Crookwell 1 does not have a voluntary planning agreement with Upper Lachlan Shire Council to compel the project owner to decommission the site.
However, Mr Baker said that once the wind farm site was projected to be decommissioned, Tilt Renewables would “probably” contract the original engineers of the turbines, Vestas, remove everything above ground and reinstate the area as countryside.
This would be a “typical” decommissioning, Mr Baker said. He could not comment on the agreement for the Crookwell 1 site, but added that as the owners of the wind farm, “we fully accept we have to decommission according to the original planning conditions”.
The wind farm has changed hands several times since it was built in 1998 under agreement with Pacific Power.
“We are a responsible company … and we have no intention of leaving something behind in the paddock ... to stop us developing elsewhere,” Mr Baker said. “It is in the company’s interest.”
The company has an added economic incentive in that costs can be recovered in scrap metal.
Agreements generally would clear everything above the ground while below ground infrastructure would remain, however this infrastructure is believe not to have any adverse affect on the environment, Mr Baker said.
“Substation and transformers have longer lives and those investments could be used for other things in the future, solar panels or turbines. We haven’t advanced this for Crookwell 1,” he said.
Any negotiations with the landholder for extended use are not known.
