The opening of the facility was attended by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and hosted by the Acciona chairman, José Manuel Entrecanales.
It is the third wind project the company has developed in the country and the combined capacity of the three sites is 304.5 MW.
“Australia is one of Acciona’s key strategic growth markets across all of Acciona’s primary activities: renewables, infrastructure and water,” Entrecanales said. “It is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the opening of our third wind farm in Australia and 278th that Acciona has installed worldwide – particularly at such a momentous turning point in this country’s history.”
The wind farm consists of 31 ACCIONA Windpower AW-1500 wind turbine generators, and will deliver enough renewable energy to power 23,250 Australian homes. The project will also reduce the region's reliance on fossil fuels and save more than 162,750 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
The Australian Federal Government has set an ambitious target of obtaining twenty percent of Australia's power from renewable sources by 2020, making projects like the Gunning Wind Farm ever more critical to achieving this goal.
In addition to the clean energy that the Gunning Wind Farm will generate and add to the electrical grid, the project has also produced 100 temporary construction jobs and eight permanent positions for the project's expected 25-year life.
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