Substation Ready To Fire Up

The recently completed substation which will service the Coopers Gap wind farm (Photo: Powerlink)

April 3, 2019

The Cooper’s Gap wind farm project has passed another milestone with the completion of the nearby Niagara Road substation.

Powerlink has energised the substation which will connect the wind turbines to the electricity grid, stepping up the voltage generated from 33kV to 275kV.

The electricity will then be carried via Powerlink’s existing Western Downs to Halys transmission line into the statewide transmission network.

AGL’s quarterly Community Consultative Meeting held at Cooranga North in March was told the wind farm could begin generating power as soon as May, although the final completion date had been pushed back to April or May next year because of transport delays for components.

Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the substation’s completion was a major milestone for the project.

“Cooper’s Gap will generate up to 440MW of renewable energy – the equivalent of powering a city the size of Ipswich,” Dr Lynham said.

Dr Lynham said Powerlink’s grid connection works had supported 52 jobs.

The Coopers Gap Wind Farm is being developed by the Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF), a partnership between AGL Energy Limited and the Queensland Investment Corporation on behalf of the Future Fund and the QIC Global Infrastructure Fund.