A 70 GW photovoltaic and wind energy project in Australia, the largest in the world | REVE News of the wind sector in Spain and in the world

Today, let’s talk about a massive renewable project proposed in Australia: the Western Green Energy Hub (WGEH).

The figures are staggering. This is one of the largest and most ambitious renewable energy projects in the world, planned to cover an area of no less than 22,700 square kilometers on the desert coast of Western Australia. To put this into perspective, we are talking about an area larger than countries like Slovenia or El Salvador.

The proposed site for its installation is one of the least densely populated areas in Australia, a country where there are only 3 people per square kilometer.

WGEH would be built in several phases, with the first phase comprising about 8 GW of combined wind and solar power. However, the plans involve installing 3,000 wind turbines ranging from 7 to 20 MW and 60 million photovoltaic panels. Assuming 10 MW wind turbines and 700 W photovoltaic panels, this would give an installed capacity of 30 GW wind and 42 GW solar. All of this would be accompanied by equipment for hydrogen production.

The developers claim it could generate more than 200 TWh of renewable energy per year. To put it into perspective, electricity demand in Spain is under 250 TWh, and in Australia, the demand was 274 TWh last year.

According to the current plans, which already have a feasibility study, the complex would include:

Currently, as part of the preliminary work, the following activities are being carried out:

Wind and solar radiation measurement campaign: With equipment collecting data for at least 12 months.
Environmental studies: Assessing flora, fauna, and marine biodiversity at the site.
Cultural preservation: Working with the native Mirning people and landowners to protect areas of high cultural value.
Database update: Providing new scientific and cultural data to state databases.

The Western Green Energy Hub is being developed by a consortium comprising Intercontinental Energy, based in Hong Kong; Serbian developer CWP Global; and Mirning Green Energy, a renewable energy company founded in 2021 by Indigenous Peoples to drive the development of the project.

There is quite a bit of information on their website if you want to take a look.

This project reminded me of the Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink), a transmission line of around 5,000 kilometers (around 4,300 kilometers submarine and 800 kilometers of overhead line) that aims to transport electricity from northern Australia to Singapore and has recently reached an important environmental milestone.

The truth is that these massive projects look great in .ppt presentations, but I can’t help but see them as projects straight out of a futuristic science fiction movie.

It’s a bit hard to believe we’ll see them fully materialized one day. But who knows.