Hepburn Community Wind Park
Australia’s first community-owned wind farm, at Leonard’s Hill near Daylesford, generated its first electricity in June 2011.
The farm is expected to annually generate more power than is used by the houses of Leonards Hill, Daylesford and everything in between.
background to the project
In early 2005 HREA (Hepburn Renewable Energy Association) approached Future Energy Pty Ltd to express their desire to establish a community owned wind farm that would help match the electricity needs of the Hepburn Shire. Since then the project has progressed through the necessary stages of development, from preliminary site analysis through the Council planning process and now has a secure planning permit. And during the course of the project, the Wind Park has gained increasing support in the Hepburn Shire community.
The Wind Park is located at Leonards Hill, 10km south of Daylesford, Victoria. It consists of two 2 megawatt wind turbines giving a total capacity of 4 megawatt of power. This produces enough electricity for 2,300 homes, almost the number of households in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs.
The driving motivation for the establishment of a wind park was climate change and the enormous benefits of renewable energy. Renewable energy is now accepted as the preferred option for the future of energy production. The wind industry in particular is responding to the increased demand for low carbon electricity and this can be seen in its spectacular growth rate of 30% p.a. Over the past twenty years, wind power has grown from its origins on the fringe of the electricity market to become a core feature of Europe’s electricity mix and increasingly America’s, and the same trend is underway in Australia.
Further information can be found here.
Click here for more posts on the Hepburn community wind project on this blog.
Bruce
January 26, 2011
Wondering what happened the Tuki windfarm at Smeaton ,not heard much on it lately.
Cam Walker
January 26, 2011
hi Bruce
there is a list of wind projects that are either approved or underway (from Vic DPI) available here:
http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/energy/projects-research-development/wind-projects
I can’t spot it on that list, so I assume the project is not going forward. regards, Cam
mick
January 27, 2011
the tuki windfarm died because 96% of the people living within 5km opposed it and fought tooth and nail to kill it off.
Of course the proponents claimed there was not enough wind, but they did claim earlier that the wind speed was 7.3mps, similar to hepburn, one wonders how it will fare that being the case.
roger
January 28, 2011
Mick, you get around! Tuki was shelved (for now) because Origin have bigger fish to fry at Stockyard Hill (10% better capacity factor and 10 times the turbines). The thuggish campaign that you and your bully mates ran didn’t stop Tuki, but at least you can take credit for dividing a community and making Smeaton a laughing stock of Central Victoria.
roger
January 28, 2011
Mick, you get around!
Tuki was shelved (for now) because Origin have bigger fish to fry at Stockyard Hill (10% better capacity factor and 10 times the turbines). The thuggish campaign that you and your bully mates ran didn’t stop Tuki, but at least you can take credit for dividing a community and making Smeaton a laughing stock of Central Victoria.
mick
January 30, 2011
note from Cam:
this one has been deleted because of personal nastiness towards people in the industry
Cam Walker
January 30, 2011
folks;
Its been blunt but mostly respectful up til now, take a deep breath and have a cup of tea, please. Stay on the issue, & play the ball, not the person
Pete Babcock
May 2, 2011
note from Cam:
this one was edited because of basic nastiness towards people in the industry
Deb
May 20, 2011
Congratulations to all supporters of wind generated energy and particularly the proposals mentioned here. There are many silent supporters like me who hope locals will support these clean air energy generators in Victoria. As for the Leonards Hill turbines – fantastic. We were offered shares but didn’t have the money to support it, so I’m so glad they found people who could contribute, regardless of where they live.