A joint venture is being undertaken between Investec Bank (Australia) and Windlab Systems Pty Ltd to develop the Collgar Wind Farm in Western Australia. The wind project will be situated approximately 25km south east of the town of Merredin and will consist of up to 127 wind turbines with an expected maximum capacity of 267MW of power.

The cost of the projected is expected to be in the region of $600 million and a planning application has been lodged with the Merredin Shire Council with a decision expected during either September or October 2008. The site for the Collgar Wind Farm comprises of around 13,000 hectares of private freehold land and although a layout plan has been proposed it may be amended after the results of further technical studies have been made.

The power generated from the Collgar Wind Farm will provide enough electricity to power around 160,000 homes each year and will avoid carbon emissions the equivalent of removing 200,000 cars from the road each year.

The plan is that the power produced will be transmitted to a nearby substation where the electricity will connect directly to the national grid network.

The construction phase of the project is anticipated to take 18 months which gives an expected completion date of first half of 2010. The 200 jobs that will need to be filled to complete the construction will provide work for the duration of the project and many of these jobs are expected to be filled locally. When construction is complete the wind farm will require a team of 10 – 15 people to maintain it on an ongoing basis.