RPV is a project company jointly owned by WA’s Carbon Solutions, US energy specialist National Power and merchant banking group Babcock & Brown.

In a statement Alinta said, “The wind farm project became unconditional after the finalisation of all necessary agreements over recent months, including [the] introduction of electricity market balancing arrangements by the State Government, connection and access agreements with Western Power and project financing.”

“RPV will build and operate the Alinta Wind Farm [and] construction is scheduled to begin in September with the first electricity to be sold in mid-2005, the same time as the first electricity is due from [our] cogeneration plant at Pinjarra.

“Combined, the Alinta Wind Farm and cogeneration plant are capable of producing 230MW of electricity. Alinta’s proposed second cogeneration plant would take this amount up to 370MW. Alinta will take all electricity generated from the facility for sale to its own customers in WA,” it added.

According to Alinta CEO Bob Browning, “The Alinta Wind Farm [will] play an important part in the company’s move into selling cheaper and cleaner electricity to Western Australian consumers. Combined with our cogeneration plant at the Alcoa refinery in Pinjarra, the Alinta Wind Farm positions the company as a major provider of cheap, green electricity to contestable customers.”

“Each year the green energy produced by the Alinta Wind Farm will displace 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases produced by traditional power generation; the equivalent of removing 80,000 cars from WA roads each year,” added Browning.