Wind Energy

22% of total clean energy generation

In the past year wind power generated over 6400 GWh of electricity, which was enough to power over 900,000 homes.

Australia currently has 1188 wind turbines and 57 operating wind farms, including one small wind farm located in the Australian Antarctic Territory. The amount of wind power in Australia has grown by an average of 35 per cent per year over the past five years, and the efficiency and power output of turbines are evolving quickly.

A report prepared by Garrad Hassan for the Clean Energy Council in 2011 predicted that there would be approximately 6.9 GW of wind power built under the Renewable Energy Target by 2020. This would be delivered from approximately 2000–2500 wind turbines, depending on their size and power output.

Acciona’s Waubra Wind Farm north-west of Ballarat in Victoria is currently the largest in the country, with 128 turbines spread out over 173 square kilometres.

  • Table 20. Total installed wind capacity by state
    South Australia has the highest wind farm capacity in the country with over half of Australia’s installed wind capacity.
    Table 20.
    Source: Clean Energy Council Renewable Energy Database (only includes projects larger than 100 kW)
  • Table 21. Indicative development costs for Australian wind farms
    South Australia has reduced its carbon emissions by 18 per cent over the last five years and most of this can be attributed to wind power, which now produces more than 20 per cent of the state’s electricity.

    The price of electricity produced from wind energy currently is around A$90–120 per MWh. Average prices for turbine supply contracts are believed to have fallen by a substantial amount over the past year, possibly in the order of 20 per cent.

    Source: Review of the Australian Wind Industry for the Clean Energy Council, Garrad Hassan, 2011
    Table 21.

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