The Premier of South Australia, the Hon Mike Rann MP, officially opened AGL’s Hallett
Stage 1 wind farm at a ceremony on site today.
To mark the official opening the Premier presented a certificate recognising the purchase
of the first 100 Australian Renewable Energy Certificates generated by the Hallett wind
farm to AGL’s Adelaide-based customer, Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd.
Premier Rann said that South Australia was taking a leading position on climate change
and that the official opening of the Hallett Stage 1 wind farm symbolised the State’s
commitment to wind power and other renewable energy.
"South Australia's initiatives on climate change have drawn praise from a number of
international leaders and environmentalists, including Al Gore, David Suzuki and Tony
Blair,” Mr Rann said.
“We will continue to strongly support the creation and use of renewable energy and, in
particular, foster our State's rapidly-growing wind industry.
“When we came to office, there was no wind-power generation in South Australia, and we
now are home to nearly 50 per cent of the nation’s wind power capacity,” Mr Rann said.
AGL Managing Director, Michael Fraser, said that mid-north South Australia was highly
suitable for wind developments and that AGL was delighted to be a vital contributor to both
the State, and in particular, the local community.
“AGL is Australia's largest private owner and operator of renewable energy assets and the
company has invested significantly in South Australia. With one wind farm now completed,
one under construction, and two more currently under investment consideration, the midnorth
is confirmed as the hub of Australian wind farm investment,” Mr Fraser said.
“Wind energy is the fastest growing global renewable energy source and AGL believes wind
will be the most significant renewable technology able to provide the scale required to
satisfy our country’s renewable energy requirements for the next decade. The mid-north
therefore occupies a very important place on the Australian renewable energy landscape.”\
“AGL would like to formally thank the Premier of South Australia for participating in today’s
ceremony and officially opening our first wind farm in South Australia. The Premier and his
Government have played in important role in facilitating AGL’s presence in South Australia
by supporting investment in renewable energy generation.
Community commitment
“The local community in Hallett, and the surrounding rural communities, have also been
very supportive of AGL’s presence and this is a reflection of the emphasis we have placed
on community engagement.
“We look forward to continuing to support these local communities through the creation of
more jobs by establishing community funds for each of our wind farm projects. AGL is fully
committed to supporting local activities through community funds, participation and
widespread engagement,” Mr Fraser said.
AGL’s Hallett Stage 1 wind farm created around 100 jobs during planning and construction.
Some of these workers have already transferred seamlessly to the construction site of the
Hallett Stage 2 wind farm at Hallett Hill.
If the proposed Hallett Stage 3 (Mt Bryan) and Hallett Stage 4 (North Brown Hill) wind
farms proceed, more than 400 new jobs will have been created by 2010 and AGL could be
operating over 232 wind turbines in South Australia, with a combined capacity of over
460MW, by 2011.
Emissions Trading, MRET and AETU’s
The sustained application of AGL’s Integrated Strategy has resulted in the development of
a renewable generation fleet that enables AGL to lead the Australian energy market within
the carbon constrained economy and within the Emissions Trading Scheme that will be
operating from 2010.
“AGL already has 166MW of wind capacity built or under construction in the area and has a
further 206-306MW in development. These assets, combined with AGL’s other existing and
identified renewable generation projects, will significantly add to our capability to selfsupply
our renewable generation needs and will supply a substantial component of AGL’s
obligations under the Federal Government’s expanded Mandatory Renewable Energy
Target scheme (MRET),” Mr Fraser said.
“AGL’s fast growing renewable portfolio places the company in a leading market position to
benefit under the expanded MRET target, a policy that AGL considers will contribute
significantly to reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and is an integral
complementary policy to the emissions trading scheme.”
“AGL has invested over $2 billion in developing the largest privately held renewable
generation portfolio in Australia. The value of this generation fleet enabled AGL to recently
commence trading Australian Emission Trading Units (AETUs) ahead of the formal
development of the Australian Emissions Trading Scheme.
“AGL posted its AETU first trade with Westpac Banking Corporation on 13 May 2008 where
10,000 units were traded with Westpac for $19 each. Through making this trade, AGL
established a market price for AETUs with the intention of providing ongoing liquidity in
energy markets beyond 2010."
AGL is now offering two-way prices in AETUs with the intention of trading this product for
2011 and 2012. There is significant interest in this product with additional trades having
been completed since 13 May.
“AGL’s ability to build, with confidence, a market for AETUs is the result of the strong
renewable generation platform that we have developed with expected generation of some
2 million megawatt hours per annum by July 2010. The Hallett Group of wind farms are
key components of AGL’s rapidly growing renewable generation platform.
“Today’s opening of our first wind farm is the culmination of almost four years of planning
and construction, during which time we were able to structure an innovative funding
arrangement for the project and introduced a new wind turbine equipment supplier into
Australia.
“AGL formally acknowledges the work done by our partners Wind Prospect and Suzlon in
delivering the project and we look forward to continuing this successful partnership on
future wind farm projects, Mr Fraser said.
Further enquiries:
Media
Andrew Scannell, Head of Media
Direct: + 61 3 8633 6167
Mobile: + 61 (0) 407 290 658
e-mail: ascannell@agl.com.au
About AGL
AGL is one of Australia's leading integrated energy companies. Drawing on 170 years of experience, it includes retail and merchant energy businesses, power generation assets and an upstream gas portfolio. AGL has Australia's largest retail energy and dual fuel customer base. This includes customers supplied with gas and electricity through AGL's joint venture partnership with ActewAGL.
AGL has a diverse power generation portfolio including base, peaking and intermediate generation plants, spread across traditional thermal generation as well as renewable sources including hydro, wind, landfill gas and biomass. One of Australia’s largest renewable energy producers, AGL is looking to further expand this position by exploring a suite of low emission and renewable energy generation development opportunities.
Location of AGL’s Hallett Group of wind farms
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