Silverton, a small village at the western extreme of New South Wales, about 25 kilometers northwest of Broken Hill has some of the best wind resources in Australia.
German renewable-energy company Conergy AG, hopes to tap this wind resource by building one of the largest wind farms (a collection of wind turbines in the same place) in Australia, at the cost of approximately $1.8 billion (2 billion Australian dollar).
500 turbines will be placed near the settlement of Silverton. The Silverton Wind Farm is expected to be 10 times bigger than the next-largest wind farm approved for the state. Once operational this wind farm will reduce Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions by at least 3 million tons a year!
The tourist town of Silverton has come a long way indeed, from being known for its famous Outback pub (which featured in the Mel Gibson film Mad Max II and in numerous television commercials) to being one of the largest producers of wind-powered electricity.
Andrew Durran, executive director of Conergy’s Australian subsidiary, Epuron said,
New South Wales is an excellent state for wind farms. It has an excellent wind resource, it has a very strong transmission system and it has got the largest energy load. Silverton Wind Farm will be one of the largest in the world once it’s operational, with the potential for almost 1000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity.
I hope more such wind farms are constructed all over the world, because this will not only help to harness the wind energy but also help to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions very effectively.
