Keppel Prince Engineering, based in Portland, Victoria, has secured a $14 million contract with Goldwind to develop the White Rock Wind Farm, which is expected to be the largest wind farm in New South Wales.
Keppel Prince Engineering will build 80 tower sections for the project, which will comprise 28 per cent of the project’s towers. The rest of the towers will be built by Chinese company Shanghai Taisheng Wind Power Equipment.
The company’s general manager Steve Garner said the contract will help keep its 300 workers employed until new wind farm projects in Victoria provide more work next year, adding that the company hopes to employ up to 50 new people to work on these new projects in the first quarter of 2017.
“Local projects delivered on a national scale like this continue to drive jobs in the Portland area,” Wannon MP Dan Tehan told The Standard.
He added that projects like this highlight the industry’s potential for growth.
Located in the New England Tablelands, the White Rock Wind Farm began construction in May 2016. Stage one of the project will consist of 70 wind turbines, producing 175MW of energy. This is enough to power 75,000 homes annually.
The wind farm is expected to be operational by the end of 2017.