AGL Energy Limited (AGL) has reaffirmed its commitment to continuing development activities for the Silverton Wind Farm during a local Community Consultative Committee meeting on Thursday, 25 February. The meeting was held to update the Committee and local residents on the project.

AGL’s new Silverton Wind Farm project manager, Adam Mackett, said further project development activities, such as hydrogeological work, would begin within the next few weeks.

“AGL is looking to develop more large-scale renewables as shown by our recent launch of the Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF). The Fund is an innovative financing vehicle that we are establishing to help facilitate the development of new, large-scale renewable generation projects. We also hope it will assist us in getting the Silverton Wind Farm project over the line,” said Mr Mackett.

The PARF aims to attract up to $3 billion from institutional investors to support 1,000 MW of renewable generation, which represents about 20 percent of the Renewable Energy Target (RET).

“The political and economic environment has changed dramatically in recent times, especially around climate change. The agreement by nations in Paris at COP21 to continue to work towards limiting climate change to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times will require the development of many new renewable projects. With this in mind AGL has submitted an application for a project extension to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment as the current project approval is due to expire in May this year.

“There is still a long way to go, including continuing consultation with the local community and determining the final project’s scope. A decision on whether the project proceeds is also subject to further development work and financing arrangements,” explained Mr Mackett.

The Silverton Wind Farm is initially proposed to have a capacity of up to 200 MW and will produce approximately 700,000 MWh of renewable energy, powering more than 120,000 average Australian homes. The renewable energy produced will reduce CO₂ emissions by 580,000 tonnes annually, which is the equivalent of taking 170,000 cars off the road each year.

Mr Mackett will be taking over as project manager as AGL continues the wind farm’s development. Mr Mackett has been with AGL for over seven years and previously managed the construction of two AGL wind farms in South Australia and the Broken Hill and Nyngan Solar Plants. He is currently wrapping up the Broken Hill Solar Plant project, which was completed on time and on budget, and will apply his wind farm project management skills, as well as local knowledge gained while working on the solar plant to the Silverton project.

About AGL
AGL is one of Australia’s leading integrated energy companies. It is taking action to responsibly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions while providing secure and affordable energy to its customers. Drawing on over 175 years of experience, AGL serves its customers throughout eastern Australia with meeting their energy requirements, including gas, electricity, solar PV and related products and services. AGL has a diverse power generation portfolio including base, peaking and intermediate generation plants, spread across traditional thermal generation as well as renewable sources including hydro, wind, solar, landfill gas and biomass.