News

Vestas has joined the project queue in a busy part of the NSW NEM and has not been shy about the size of its proposal, submitting a Scoping Report for the giant Abercrombie Wind Farm to the state planning authority for assessment.

The project site is located approximately 40km south-west of Hay within the Hay Shire and Edward River LGAs in south-western NSW, in the South-West REZ. It covers total landholdings of approximately 91,365ha, with a preliminary disturbance area identified of approximately 3158ha - less than 3.5%.

The maximum 2500 MW wind farm is proposed to feature up to 348 Vestas’ EnVentus wind turbine generators of 8 MW capacity each and associated infrastructure, including potentially two battery energy storage systems with a capacity up to 500 MW / 2000 MWh each and transmission infrastructure.

Electrical infrastructure required will be a primary terminal station, three collector substations including power quality components such as harmonics filters, capacitors, static synchronous compensator system, and associated transmission lines.

The project is currently anticipated to connect to the NEM via a cut-in either to the existing 220kV transmission line or to a new dual circuit 330kV transmission line to be constructed as part of approved Project EnergyConnect, based on available capacity.

Up to 600 people full-time equivalent (FTE) positions are expected to be required during construction, with 30-40 FTE long-term service and maintenance jobs for operations. The construction program is expected to take approximately five years, and is scheduled to begin in Q1

2028 subject to all required approvals being obtained.

Abercrombie brings Vestas’ development pipeline in Australia to 4500 MW, adding to the 250 MW Captains Mountain Wind Farm in Queensland, the 550 MW Piambong Wind Farm in NSW, and the 1200 MW Tara Wind Farm also in Queensland.