Biala Wind Farm
Biala Wind Farm is a 31-turbine wind farm located approximately 6km south of Grabben Gullen on Grabben Gullen Road, 8km east of Biala and 14.5km southwest of Crookwell in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. The wind farm is 100% owned by BJCE Australia, which owns the nearby 73 turbine Gullen Range Wind Farm and 10MW Gullen Solar Farm.
Biala Wind Farm has an installed capacity of approximately 110MW producing enough electricity for around 46,000 typical homes on an average day of wind.
Construction started in August 2019 with the first clean power generated in 2020.
Please feel free to contact us if you would like further information, or if you would like to provide feedback or lodge a complaint about the wind farm.
News
The latest wind farm news is below. You can view archive news here and download our newsletters here.
Local Rural Fire Service (RFS) station representatives will be visiting Biala and Gullen Range Wind Farms, as well as Gullen Solar Farm, on Friday, 27th of September. This is an annual exercise to ensure that local RFS services are familiar with the wind and solar farms’, access points and water sources to prepare for the coming fire season.
RFS trucks from stations at Crookwell, Bannister, Grabben Gullen and Biala will meet at the Biala Wind Farm entrance before driving through the internal access roads across both wind farm sites. We will also be hosting a BBQ lunch with the representatives to allow for an opportunity to further discuss bushfire preparedness.
News item: 28/08/2024: Biala Wind Farm Community Fund applications now open
Upper Lachlan Shire Council advises that the Biala Wind Farm Community Fund for 2024/25 is now open for applications, with $121,502.08 available in this year’s funding round. Applications will close on Friday, 11 October 2024.
The Biala Wind Farm Community Fund aims to benefit the local community by supporting projects and initiatives proposed by members of the community through registered or incorporated not for profit organisations. Projects and initiatives should contribute to neighbouring communities within 20km of a wind turbine on Biala Wind Farm.
Further information on the Community Fund, including guidelines and application forms, are available on Council’s website.
News item: 08/08/2024: Biala Wind Farm enjoys Crookwell Senior Green Devils Sponsors Day
Representatives from Biala Wind Farm cheered on the Crookwell Devils last weekend at their annual Sponsors Day. The event is a thank you to the club’s many sponsors, with Biala Wind Farm proud to have supported for the past two years. In the final round game of the 2024 George Tooke Shield competition, the She Devils were victorious against the Harden Hawkettes in a tight match, while the men’s Devils sadly ended their season with a disappointing loss to the Harden Hawks. Despite the mixed results on the field, it was great to celebrate with the teams and other sponsors. We wish the She Devils all the best in the upcoming finals series!
The Crookwell Green Devils take on the Harden Hawks
On Friday, 2nd of August, representatives from Biala Wind Farm joined the Goulburn region Science and Engineering Challenge, organised by University of Newcastle. The Challenge invites year 9 and 10 students from schools around the Southern Tablelands to participate in a range of STEM activities, with the winner invited to participate in the State Finals later this month.
Students got the chance to challenge their minds with hands-on activities including building gliders or designing the most effective wind turbine blades. The culmination of the day was the bridge building challenge, with representative teams from each school working together to create the strongest bridge design. It was down to the wire, with Boorowa Central School claiming the overall win by a margin of only four points.
Biala Wind Farm worked with Goulburn Rotary Club to sponsor the event this year, with the Rotarians doing an incredible job of facilitating the activities as well as providing refreshments throughout the day.
It was great to see all the students so engaged with the activities and to be able to help foster interest in a career in STEM.
Biala Wind Farm Site Manager Andrew Sinclair, and Community Relations Manager Erin Fletcher
News item: 20/06/24: June Community Newsletter
The June 2024 Community Update is now available to read and download here.
News item: 17/06/24: UPDATE: Crane movement at Biala Wind Farm
Generator replacement works have now been completed at Biala Wind Farm, and local residents may see an increase in truck movements as the cranes are demobilised and removed from site across a number of days. We will work to ensure minimal impact on local traffic and road networks as this is undertaken.
News item: 04/06/24: Cranes a sight to see at Biala Wind Farm
Local residents will be treated to some interesting sights at Biala Wind Farm over the next few weeks, with one of our turbines undergoing a generator replacement.
Three specialist cranes have recently been delivered to site, with each crane being used to complete a different part of the generator replacement work programme.
A mobile slewing crane will assist in constructing a 220-tonne crawler crane, which comes to site in multiple pieces due to its size. Both the slewing and crawler cranes will then work together to construct a massive 750-tonne crane, which will take down one the turbine hubs all while keeping the three blades of the turbine intact.
The crane parts have been delivered to site over the past few weeks, across approximately 60 semi-trailer loads while the replacement generator also arrived last week.
Considering the height of the wind turbine is 180m from the ground to the tip of the rotor blades, it’s no wonder numerous cranes and multiple steps are involved in this highly complex, yet routine, maintenance project.
The entire generator replacement process will take approximately three days to complete, after which the cranes will be disassembled and removed. Biala Wind Farm will continue to ensure minimal impact to local traffic and roads occurs during this period.
News item: 30/04/24: Community Fund Think Tank generates discussion and big ideas
Biala Wind Farm hosted a Think Tank session at Grabben Gullen Hall on Sunday, 28 April, with around 15 members of the local community coming together to hear more about the Community Enhancement Fund.
Attendees started off with a delicious BBQ lunch thanks to the Crookwell Lions Club, followed by a presentation from Biala Wind Farm representatives, which helped to nurture a deeper understanding of what can be supported through the Community Enhancement Fund. The Think Tank comes off the back of a recent survey undertaken by the Wind Farm to hear more about what local residents would like to see improved upon in the area in and around Grabben Gullen.
The Think Tank was a great opportunity for residents to share ideas for what they feel would be of most benefit to the local community, and for Biala Wind Farm representatives to further explain the application and review process.
Local community groups are encouraged to start planning their applications ahead of the next round of funding, which will open in the coming months. Dates for submitting applications for the next funding round will be announced by Upper Lachlan Shire Council.
More information on the Community Enhancement Fund can be found here. Should local community groups or residents have any queries regarding the Fund, they can contact Biala Wind Farm at [email protected] or on 1800 370 045 (please leave a message advising you would like to discuss the Community Enhancement Fund and we will call you back).