With the Victorian government blocking some of the best wind resource in the state from further development, other states stand to benefit from the jobs, investment and land holder income that will come with wind farms.

As the SA Premier said in the article below, SA was now “in the box seat for future wind power development”. The article further notes “Further wind farm development is expected in SA following the Victorian Government decision to introduce tough new guidelines for the generators”.

From the Advertiser, journalist Greg Kelton.

$1.3bn turbine deal to power 225,000 homes

A $1.3 BILLION wind farm that could generate a quarter of the state’s power will be built on Yorke Peninsula.

The wind farm, to be located about 20km southwest of Ardrossan, near Pine Point, will generate up to 600 megawatts of electricity a day, which is about 25 per cent of the state’s daily consumption.

It will provide enough power for 225,000 homes a year.

A huge undersea cable will link the wind farm’s 180 turbines with the main power grid in Adelaide.

It is one of the key projects Premier Mike Rann has wanted to lock in before he stands down on October 20.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, creating 500 jobs during construction, and will provide 50 ongoing positions over 25 years.

The Suzlon Group, based in India, is developing the wind farm.

The project will also involve a pilot power plant that would convert biomass into energy, which would also be fed into South Australia’s power supply.

Biomass is biological material from living, or recently living organisms.

These include municipal solid waste, dead trees and clippings, which can be used to generate electricity or produce heat.

Further wind farm development is expected in SA following the Victorian Government decision to introduce tough new guidelines for the generators.

There have been protests from landowners in SA about wind farms being located close to their properties – the latest in the South-East, where the Environment, Resources and Development Court blocked the proposed $175 million Acciona wind farm at Allendale. There have also been growing protests from residents in the Mid North about wind farms on the grounds of their possible health dangers.

Suzlon Energy Australia chief executive Dan Hansen said the project, to be known as Ceres and named after a steamship with sails that was built in 1876 for an SA company, had been initiated by Yorke Peninsula farmers and local developers. Suzlon has already installed six wind farms in SA with an installed capacity of 507 megawatts and already employs 92 people here.

“The Ceres project will create local jobs, place the region on the global map as a leader in renewable technology and give peninsula farmers and landowners the opportunity to diversify their income streams,” Mr Hansen said.

Mr Hansen said it was estimated the project would save up to 2600 million litres of clean water had the power been produced from a coal-fired source.

“This is consistent with a commitment by the SA Government in June, 2009, to increase its renewable energy production target to 33 per cent by 2020,”

he said.

Mr Rann described the new development as “the mother of all wind farms”, although he said it would have to go through the normal regulatory and planning processes.

“It will be one of the biggest wind farms in the world,” he told The Advertiser yesterday.

“Currently, with only 7.2 per cent of Australia’s population we have 54 per cent of Australia’s wind power.

“We have, per capita, five times more wind power than Victoria and 10 times more than NSW.”

Mr Rann said SA was now “in the box seat for future wind power development”.

He said this had been done without costing taxpayers any money.

A recent Senate report called for an urgent review into the potentially damaging health effects of wind farms on nearby residents.

It called for tougher rules on noise, new rules to govern how close wind farms can be built to houses, and an independent arbitrator to hear complaints.