Construction is set to begin early next year on Victoria's largest windfarm near Rokewood, south of Ballarat, which when complete its operators say will generate enough energy to power more than 750,000 homes - the equivalent of every home in regional Victoria.
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The first stage of the colossal Golden Plains Wind Farm will see 122 massive turbines constructed east of Rokewood. Each turbine will be up to 230 metres at its tallest, with the diameter of the spinning blades the size of the MCG.
The green-light for construction works to begin comes after the mega-project reached "financial close" last week meaning all agreements for finance, connection and construction are now in place for the $2bn stage one development.
"We have been working toward this day for two and a half years," said Andrew Riggs, managing director of TagEnergy Australia who is building the giant wind farm.
Stage one will be known as Golden Plains Wind Farm East with ground works to start early next year and the first turbine scheduled to be erected before the end of 2023.
"They will be getting out there in the field, pouring concrete, putting cables in the ground then lifting the turbines," Mr Riggs said.
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The first turbines are expected to start producing clean energy in late 2024 and when complete in 2025 will provide 756MW of power, the equivalent to about five per cent of the state's energy needs and enough to power about 450,000 homes.
The first stage of works also includes construction of two terminals including a $250 million terminal at Cressy to feed power produced by the Golden Plains turbines in to the AusNet system via their existing lines.
Mr Riggs said Golden Plains Windfarm East would create about 400 jobs in construction over the three year build, with about 70 permanent positions to remain in in fields including turbine maintenance, grid maintenance and support industries once the farm is running.
He hoped many of those jobs would go to locals.
"Because it's such a long build we often see people in the community go and do a training course at one of the accredited providers, apply for jobs and get in to those maintenance providers," Mr Riggs said.
Training the next generation of renewable energy technicians is the goal of Federation TAFE's Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Training Centre which has been promised $6 million from the state government for its stage two works to build the large teaching spaces needed to house wind turbine components including nacelles, generators and blades.
First stage of the centre involved construction of a 23m high wind turbine maintenance training tower at Mount Helen in conjunction with Federation TAFE's industry partners in the renewable energy sector.
It is hoped that up to 600 trainees, apprentices and workers in the sector upgrading their skills will be trained each year.
But Mr Riggs said jobs were not just in construction and technicians, but in a raft of other roles including customer service.
As work begins on stage one, Mr Riggs said planning would continue on stage two of the vast project known as Golden Plains Wind Farm West which will add a further 93 turbines capable of producing 544MW which combined with stage one would provide about 8.5 per cent of the state's power needs.
The wind farm will eventually sit across 167 square kilometres around the township of Rokewood.
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Mr Riggs said the Rokewood community was behind the project and would benefit with a community benefit fund already supporting the community and an extensive "benefit share program" including free electricity and landscaping to those living near the turbines.
The big build, which Mr Riggs said would likely take around five years including stage two works, would also likely see tens of millions of dollars pumped back in to the local community through workers moving to the area, staying in local accommodation, eating at cafes and making other purchases and becoming part of the region.
"A lot flows through local communities when we are putting $500 million to $600 million in to labour," he said.
TagEnergy is the sole investor in stage one with WestWind contracted for 30 years to manage the wind farm, compliance with all permits and community engagement. TagEnergy and WestWind continue to develop the 500MW+ stage two and construction of a 300MW battery storage facility to add flexibility and stability to the state's power grid.
Danish wind farm manufacturer and supplier Vestas will supply the turbines, in what will be its largest onshore wind farm in the Asia Pacific region.
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