Rye Park mega wind farm saved by ‘camp’

In the middle of summer – amid warnings that El Nino would bring real heat – Tilt Renewables realized it had a problem. It was a few days before Christmas and it quickly became clear that the green developer would not be able to get the 216 megawatts from the Rye Park wind farm onto the grid.

This posed a problem because this power was already contracted to Newmont Corporation, an ASX-listed gold producer that was Rye Park’s main sponsor. By promising to purchase 55 percent of the investment’s production, Newmont effectively insured the construction of the entire project.