Vestas predicts supercharged investment as race to build WA wind farms before 2030 coal closures intensifies

The local boss of contractor Vestas tips a so-called “wind investment drought” will break in Australia next year, forecasting a wave of cash for the green energy source as the battle to cut emissions ramps up. Vestas national chief Danny Nielsen was especially bullish for Western Australia as the State Government scrambles to prepare the grid for the closure of most coal power stations by 2030. New wind projects largely stalled across the country this year but last week brought a final investment decision by Tilt Renewables to press go on the Waddi Wind Farm in the Northern Wheatbelt. It will supply power to about 68,000 homes through a deal with AGL. That took Vestas’ order book in the State north of 1 gigawatt, which is equivalent to about a quarter of demand on the grid at peak on a summer day. Mr Nielsen reckons there will be plenty more good news for the industry starting in about mid-2026 — with investment crucial to hit a national target for 82 per cent of power to be generated by renewables by the end of the decade. “You keep hammering the bottle on the bottom and suddenly everything gets released out,” he told The West Australian. He pointed to projects across the country moving through development, environmental and council approvals, securing grid connections and funding calls. There’s also plenty of activity on the horizon in WA, with Mr Nielsen saying the State is “exciting”. Vestas has about 10 projects in the pipeline in the west. Construction of the Clean Energy Link North is under way, which will help link some of those projects to the rest of the grid. “Transmission lines are being built at the moment,” he said. “There’s a government that is very committed to driving change and we see a lot of customers being active. “Plus WA has some of the best wind resources in the world.” Construction started on two other major wind farms in WA through 2025, the Warradarge expansion and Kings Rocks. Synergy is backing both, although Warradarge is mostly owned by Potentia Energy. Plenty more have been put forward for development and environmental approvals, including a $4.5 billion Synergy build at Tathra, north of Perth. But industry leaders have warned the State will have a tight timeline to install enough green capacity to switch off coal as promised. Former Premier Mark McGowan announced state-owned coal power stations would close by the end of decade back in 2022. Analysis by CSIRO recently projected wind and solar would be the cheapest ways to produce electricity in 2030.