First Goldwind wind turbine components arrive at Agnew Mine

The first Australian mine to use wind generation as part of a large hybrid renewable microgrid.

Goldwind today announced the first Goldwind wind turbine components have arrived on site for the construction of the wind farm for the Agnew Hybrid Renewable Project at Gold Fields’ Agnew Mine, located in Western Australia’s northern goldfields region.

Goldwind announced in July that it had entered an agreement with global energy producer EDL to deliver the wind farm component of the project. EDL is engaged in designing, constructing, owning and operating the microgrid to power the Agnew Mine in two stages, under a 10-year agreement with Gold Fields.

Goldwind, together with Balance of Plant Joint Venture Partner NACAP, is currently providing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services to the project. Goldwind will additionally provide Warranty Operations and Maintenance during the operations period.

“We are incredibly pleased to partner with EDL on the Agnew Mine project.
“Deliveries of the Goldwind turbine components are now underway. A total of 55 turbine components will be transported to site over the next few weeks. Installation of Goldwind turbines will start shortly.” said John Titchen, Managing Director Goldwind Australia.

EDL CEO James Harman said, “We look forward to working with Goldwind on the wind component of the project, which also includes an operating 23MW solar, gas and diesel power station, and a 13MW battery and an advanced microgrid control system under construction.

“Once completed in mid-2020, the Agnew Hybrid Renewable Project will have a total installed generation capacity of 54MW, with renewables providing over 50% of the Agnew Mine’s power requirements.” The Agnew project, which received funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program, is the first to use wind generation as part of a large hybrid microgrid in the Australian mining sector. The wind farm will consist of five GW140/3.57MW Goldwind wind turbines at 110-metre hub height and 17.85 megawatts generated capacity.