Rye Park Wind Farm

The Rye Park wind farm (RPWF), a 396MW onshore wind power project under construction near Rye Park, will be the biggest wind farm in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Rye Park Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Tilt Renewables (formerly Trustpower), is developing the wind farm with an estimated investment of A$700m ($499m).

Powering Australian Renewables (PowAR), a consortium of AGL Energy, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund the Future Fund and Queensland government-owned investment manager QIC, acquired Tilt Renewables in August 2021.

The Rye Park wind project was initially undertaken by Epuron in 2008. Tilt Renewables acquired the project from Epuron in late 2014 and the NSW Government granted development approval for the project in March 2017.

Financial closure of the project was reached in August 2021, followed by the start of construction in December 2021. Turbine installation is expected to begin in the second half of 2022.

Scheduled for commissioning in the first quarter of 2024, the wind farm is expected to generate up to 1,188 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean electricity a year. It will produce enough electricity to power 215,000 Australian homes and reduce carbon emissions by 960,000 tonnes (t) a year.

Rye Park wind farm location and site details

The onshore wind farm is being developed near the township of Rye Park, 11km north-east of Yass in  New South Wales, Australia.

The project site lies on the edge of the Southern Tablelands and the South-West slopes. It spans local government areas of Yass Valley, Boorowa, and Upper Lachlan.

Rye Park wind farm make-up

The wind farm will be installed with 66 Vestas EnVentus V162  wind turbines of 6MW rated capacity each.

Designed to operate in sites with low to medium wind speeds, the V162-6MW turbines have a rotor diameter of 162m and a blade tip height of 200m. Each turbine will have a swept area of 20,000m².

Power evacuation

The electricity generated by the wind farm will be evacuated into the TransGrid network via a new 330kV substation connecting the existing Yass to Gullen Range 330kV transmission line.

Power purchase agreement

Newcrest Mining entered a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tilt Renewables to offtake 55% of the Rye Park wind farm’s electricity output for its Cadia gold mine in December 2020.

International law firm Allens advised Newcrest’s subsidiary Cadia Holdings on the PPA transaction with Tilt Renewables.

Rye Park is one of the biggest wind farms in Australia to be backed with a corporate PPA.

Contractors involved in the Australian wind power project

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas was contracted to supply and install turbines for the Rye Park wind farm in September 2021. The contractual scope also includes a 30-year service agreement.

Zenviron, a joint venture of Monadelphous Group (55%) and ZEM Energy (45%), was awarded a contract worth A$250m ($183m) for the balance-of-plant (BOP) civil and electrical works of the project in September 2021.

Lumea will be responsible to build, own and operate the power infrastructure required to connect the wind farm to the transmission grid.

Umwelt provided environmental and ecological consulting services for the project.

Herbert Smith Freehills advised Tilt Renewables on the procurement and connection aspects of the Rye Park wind project in September 2021.