Construction has begun on a new wind farm in Crowlands, near Ararat, which will provide energy to members of the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project including Yarra City Council.  

Yarra’s Deputy Mayor Cr Misha Coleman visited the site last Friday 23 March, along with partners from the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project, to celebrate the official start of construction and meet with members of the Crowlands community.

The project is the first of its kind in Australia, bringing together 14 organisations to directly influence the construction of the new wind farm.

‘Energy markets everywhere are looking at this completely new model - where organisations including local councils, the Zoo and private companies have banded together to buy enough power to enable a whole new wind farm to be built,’ says Cr Coleman.

‘We don’t have to wait for state and federal governments to deliver clean energy sources - by 2019 Yarra will be buying 100% of its electricity from a wind farm,’ she said.

This electricity will supply all of Yarra Council’s buildings including all council owned and operated facilities, town halls, parks and street lighting.

‘This program not only supports new renewable energy sources, but allows Yarra to exceed our emission reductions targets: we were trying to achieve a 60% reduction by 2020 (over our 2001 baseline), but this new group purchase will see us hitting a 75% reduction by the time the 39 new turbines come online in 2019,’ said Cr Coleman.

Excess power generated from the Crowlands wind farm will be fed back into the grid to be used by businesses and households across south-western Victoria.

The wind farm will be owned and operated by Melbourne-based clean energy company Pacific Hydro, and the power will be supplied by its retail arm, Tango Energy.  

Find out more about Yarra Council’s commitment to the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project.