After 14 months of committed focus and meticulous project management, Noske Wind Energy Logistics has delivered the final component to the giant Macarthur Wind Farm site.
The $1 billion Macarthur Wind Farm, owned by Meridian /AGL JV has been undertaken using Noske for the International and inland Australia transportation requirements in conjunction with the Vestas / Leighton Contractors JV consortium.
During second quarter of 2011, Noske was awarded the land transport, shipping and storage scopes for all tower and turbine components for the Macarthur Wind Farm project. After careful pre-planning, the first of a total 1120 over dimensional deliveries began in July 2011, with the last component being delivered in September 2012.
Using its strategic alliance with international freight forwarding specialist Blue Water Shipping, Noske coordinated the loading and unloading of eight vessels from Esbjerg, Denmark, to the Port of Portland in Victoria. It was on these vessels the components to construct 140 wind turbines were transported to port, then to the 15,000sqm port storage facility, and then onto the Macarthur site.
The use of task specific equipment, consisting of eight dedicated prime movers and eight over-dimensional trailers supplied in conjunction with alliance partner McAleese Group, ensured the project delivery schedule was met.
Noske executive director operations Tony Noske said there was a major focus on safety and compliance.
“Our staff are instilled with our zero accident culture from day one. We are proud to announce that upon completion of the transport scope for Macarthur wind farm we have successfully delivered 1120 large over-dimensional components, travelled 210,000km under escort and over 57,000 man hours with zero lost time injuries, zero incidents and zero component damage.”
Fully erected, each turbine has a rotor span of 112m and the blade tip height of 140m. Wth these dimensions, one begins to understand the challenges associated with the transportation of these components.
With all required components now on site, construction will continue with completion of turbine erection and full commissioning scheduled for early 2013. Once technicians have carried out required assessment each turbine can begin producing energy for the wholesale electricity market.
The project makes use of the new Vestas V112-3.0MW turbine, which is designed specifically for low to medium wind speed conditions such as those experienced at Macarthur. Vestas, the world’s largest manufacture of wind turbines, brings state-of-the-art technology, quality and reliability to the project to ensure the wind farm’s success over the longer term.
Once fully operational, Macarthur will produce 420MW of renewable energy, providing enough electricity to power an average 220,000 Victorian homes each year, a savings of 1.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
