Construction of the Bulgana Green Power Hub, a wind farm with battery storage facility, has begun in Stawell, Victoria, Australia.
The A$350m ($262m) facility will include a 194MW wind farm with Siemens-Gamesa wind turbines, as well as a 20MW/34MWh lithium-ion battery developed by Tesla.
Scheduled to be completed next year, the wind farm is set to produce 740,000MWh of clean and renewable energy annually.
The project is expected to create around 1,300 jobs, including 270 direct ongoing jobs in the agricultural sector and ten direct ongoing jobs in the renewable energy sector.
Victorian electricity transmission network owner and operator AusNet Services will build the transmission connection for the Bulgana Green Power Hub.
The project is also supported by a 15-year support agreement between Victoria’s Labor Government and Neoen Australia, which is involved in the development and operation of the hub.
Victoria Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said: “We’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the Bulgana Green Power Hub is helping us meet our ambitious renewable energy targets.”
The Bulgana Green Power Hub facility will help the Labor government to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets of 15% to 20% by 2020.
The hub is also expected to provide affordable renewable energy to a new advanced agriculture facility to be operated by Nectar Farms in Stawell.
