The green power venture supported by Denham Capital Management LP, a private equity fund, OneWind Australia, is expecting the operation of the first of the many windfarms in the country to be operational by 2015. The project cost is around US$2 billion and would be located in many parts of Australia.
Amongst the projects being developed by OneWind would be five wind projects in the states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. These wind farms have a projected combined capacity of 1,000 megawatts. The first one to go online would be the 100-megawatt Glenn Innes plant located in New South Wales, the continent's most populous state.
Another aspect of the power generation project is the use of wind and diesel hybrid projects that are not connected to Australia's main power grid. It also is studying the viability of expansion to other continents such as Europe according to Managing Director Michael Toke.
He said, "Compared with other places in the world, wind is quite competitive in this market. It's a combination of the competitiveness of wind and the need for new renewables here. There's an opportunity to generate good returns."
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