Building a renewable future across the Tasman

Innovative community wind project leads the way in building a renewable future across the Tasman

For immediate release
10 October 2016

Australia’s first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, is partnering with Meridian Energy to manage the maintenance and market services of the wind farm.

Meridian Energy CEO, Mark Binns says, “Meridian is proud to support this initiative. By providing our engineering expertise we’ve been able to ensure that the Hepburn community continues to generate renewable energy from their wind farm to power the community.”

The 4.1 MW wind farm hosts two turbines called Gale and Gusto, who produce enough clean energy for 200 homes.

Powershop and Meridian Energy Australia CEO, Ed McManus says, “The Hepburn project is close to Meridian’s Mt. Mercer site which has meant we have been able to leverage our expertise from our large scale projects with a community close to one of our assets.”

“In both New Zealand and Australia we are faced with a changing demand-supply environment where we see the future being a series of small innovative projects, like Hepburn, to meet demand. It is great to see that Australian communities are realising the benefits of building their own wind farms and creating their own renewable energy,” says Mr McManus.

“The Australian energy market is vastly different from the New Zealand market – 80% of the energy in Australia comes from thermal resources, and only 20% comes from renewables. This provides the country with huge opportunities to make improvements to its profile through community-based projects like this,” says Mr McManus.

Mr McManus says projects like Hepburn are key for Australia. “The Australian Federal Government Renewable Energy Target is to ensure that 33,000GwH of renewable energy is built into the market by 2025. These targets are crucial in the commitment to clean energy by the Australian Government, but also in assisting Australia to make its Paris Climate Change commitments.”

Community energy enterprises give local groups a chance to make a significant contribution to reducing climate change. They can also provide long-lasting economic and social benefits to the community.

ENDS

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