Under the long-term agreement, Sydney Airport will be supplied with wind power from the Crudine Ridge Wind Farm contracted through Origin, with Origin to provide firming generation when the wind is not blowing enough to meet the airport’s load.
Crudine Ridge Wind Farm, located 45km south of Mudgee in NSW, will be constructed by GE Renewable Energy and Zenviron, who will install 37 x GE 3.63MW wind turbines. The transmission grid connection will be constructed, owned and operated by Transgrid.
Meridian Energy Australia has purchased 50% of the energy from Crudine under a long term power purchase agreement to support the growth of its retail business Powershop.
The wind farm is expected to be operational in 2019.
Wind was a natural choice of renewable source for the airport, with Origin entering into an offtake agreement with Crudine Ridge and packaging it with firming supply when the wind farm is not generating enough to meet the airport’s load.
Origin Energy executive general manager energy supply and operations Greg Jarvis said there was growing interest from customers for renewable energy solutions.
“Renewable energy in Australia is rapidly growing in scale and Origin is enabling our customers to source energy with direct line of sight to wind and solar facilities,” Jarvis said.
“Sydney is Australia’s busiest airport, operating around the clock – the combination of wind and firming is perfect to meet their load and help them transition to cleaner energy supply,” Jarvis added.
