Patricia Gill, Denmark Bulletin
Denmark Community Windfarm has plans to double the size of the facility with approval received for four turbines on Wilson Head.
The current turbines would be replaced by more powerful ones and two more turbines would be erected on the Wilson Head site.
As one of Australia’s first community-owned renewable energy projects, Denmark’s two 800-kilowatt turbines produce about 40 per cent of the town’s power needs.
There are plans to expand the facility in step with Denmark’s increasing population.
A not-for-profit steering group was established in Denmark in 2003 as a local response to the global challenge of climate change.
The vision was to build a small, community wind farm feeding into the regional grid.
Although the turbines produce only a fraction of the energy produced by commercial development, for the past 12 years the facility has returned financial and environmental dividends.
ABC Great Southern has reported that director Paul Llewellyn said that the two existing turbines could be kept running and two additional turbines be erected.
Alternatively, the size of the two existing turbines could be increased.
Batteries could be added to create an even more integrated system.
Mr Llewellyn said DWC could produce much more than 100 per cent of the town’s energy.
Energy sold to State-owned electricity provider Synergy had reduced the electricity bills of the 160 community shareholders by about 10 per cent.
Wind farm expansion
Plans to connect batteries to increase load capacity were underway, but a cap on government funding meant the plan was put on hold.
DCW had made an application for support to get five large batch-scale batteries.
“We should have got support, that was a perfect project to do regional-scale storage and integration of electricity and batteries into the network,” Mr Llewellyn told the ABC.
DCW was among 11 Australia-wide community renewables projects recognised in the inaugural Climate Council Choice Awards earlier this year.
This article appeared in Denmark Bulletin, 29 May 2025.
