Tasmania - Expertise used for wind farms in Asia Pacific, including China and India

A proposed 1000 MW facitlity when fully developed, the 400 MW first stage of this work – known as the Xiangyang project – is to start construction in early 2008 near the city of Baicheng, Jilin province. When the agreement was announced, Roaring 40s Managing Director, Mark Kelleher, said that the Xiangyang project firmly establishes Roaring 40s as the leading foreign renewable wind energy developer in China.

Roaring 40s Renewable Energy Pty Ltd was formed in 2005 through a partnership between energy giants Hydro Tasmania and the China Light & Power Group. The company has also constructed – or is in the process of constructing a number of wind farms in many other parts of China, including Shuangliao, Datong, Lijin, Hekou, Zhanhoa and Ronqucheng wind farms.

Mr Kelleher said that the wind energy development programme in China shows that the government is serious about its commitment to offset the impacts of climate change through the adoption of large-scale wind energy projects.

Wind Farms across Asia-Pacific;
China – and home base Australia, where the company has four facilities – are not the only countries where Roaring 40s is building wind farms. In India, the company has built a 50.4 MW capacity wind farm at Khandke in Maharashta state on the west coast of India. The Khandke Wind Farm is expected to become fully operational during 2008, generating enough energy to power 25,000 homes. Khandke also saves up to 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.

In New Zealand, Roaring 40s is planning to build a 114 MW capacity wind farm at Titiokora in Hawkes Bay near Napier on the North Island, with approvals already through for the first stage. When completed, the Titiokora Wind Farm will provide enough electricity to power 60,000 homes and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 275,000 tones each year.

100 years of experience:
Although wind farms have been around for less than twenty years, Roaring 40s has 100 years of experience in the energy industry. Roaring 40s’ Australian parent, Hydro Tasmania, owned by the State of Tasmania, is Australia’s leading renewable energy business. Hydro Tasmania contributes 50 per cent of Australia’s electricity produced from renewable energy sources and has a long history of power engineering, dam construction, and the supply of hydro-electricity.