September 19, 2006
Australia
Australia
Member for Flinders Liz Penfold will hold talks with a Western Australian company this week to try and secure a new wind farm on Eyre Peninsula.
Mrs Penfold said with the mining potential on the peninsula and a desalination plant for Whyalla in the near future, there would be more demand for energy than ever before.
“With mining happening there will be a greater need for power in the future,” Mrs Penfold said.
Mrs Penfold has also talked to Miles George, from global energy company Babcock and Brown which have completed a $400 million wind farm at Lake Bonney in the state’s southeast.
The company has $600 million to spend, an amount she hopes they will invest on Eyre Peninsula.
Mrs Penfold would like to see a small-scale wind project set up in a small community, such as Venus Bay, or Port Kenny.
She said wind farms were constantly developing and the wind projects in small communities would be linked to diesel generators.
“The new technology they have now is better and more efficient.”
However, while more money was needed to invest in wind power, there was also a need to upgrade electricity infrastructure.
Eyre Peninsula has a 132 kV line that is over 40 years old to service the peninsula, which is “nowhere near what we need”, Mrs Penfold said.
She said while the line was getting a $14 million upgrade, it still would not be adequate.
“We need to look at having a complete separate line along the West Coast to triangulate (with the Port Lincoln sub-station).”
“A region this big should have a second line in, and it should be a public line.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/09/19/mp-seeks-another-wind-farm/