Tuesday 16 October 2007

Dry winter puts wind farm ahead of schedule

Northern Argus
Wednesday 10/10/2007 Page: 38

The lack of substantial rain this spring has had an upside in the construction of the Trust Power wind farm on the Hummocks and Barunga Ranges west of Snowtown. The project is well on schedule as rain has not interrupted the construction crews undertaking earthworks for the roads and the foundations of the 42 turbines to be installed on the wind farm. Trust Power spokesman Andrew Dickson said there were more than 40 people working on the construction site.

The civil works sub-contractor Built Environs has employed a number of the workers from the region around Snowtown. In the long term the wind farm will employ five to seven operations and maintenance technicians, who will probably be based in Snowtown, Mr Dickson said. "We expect the first turbine will be operational by January- February," Mr Dickson said.

The turbines under construction are exactly the same as the turbines being built at Hallett. In both cases the wind turbines are manufactured and supplied by an Indian owned company, Suzlon Energy Australia Pty Ltd, the world's fourth leading manufacturer of wind turbines. The blades, rotors and nacelles are made in Suzlon's factories in western India, but the towers sections are manufactured by Air Ride Pty Ltd at its factory in Adelaide. Local businesses such as Hummocks Station have been busy providing accommodation to work crews working on the intensive construction phase of the project.

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