Front Generator Wind Turbine

The first shipment of the close to 700 massive pieces of equipment that make up the 270 megawatt Snowtown II wind farm arrived at Port Adelaide this week from China and Denmark.

The $700 million, 90-turbine wind farm will use 240 of the 53-meter blades and thirty 49-metre ones, weighing more than 10 tonnes each.

The blades are being transported two per day on trailer trucks under police escort to the site over the next few weeks.

The arrival of the first of eight shipments marks a ramp up in construction activity at the site, employing close to 200 workers.

Siemens is the turnkey supplier on the wind farm owned by New Zealand electricity company TrustPower and is using some of its latest innovations in its maiden Australian project.

Siemens will also operate and maintain Snowtown II for the next 15 years.

The project is expected to redefine Snowtown's identity as the 'wind capital' of the state - a region previously linked to one of the nation's worst mass murders.

Snowtown II is co-located with TrustPower's existing 100 MW Snowtown wind farm, which will more than triple the renewable energy generation of the region.

With roadworks, electrical works complete and civil work in full swing, the project is on schedule for completion late next year, Siemens vice president of energy David Pryke said.

"Siemens' first Australian project will have the capacity to power 180,000 homes in the state using the latest in wind energy technology.

"It will have gearless-drive turbines and 53-meter rotor blades cast in one piece, improving efficiency and reducing cost and best suited to the strong wind conditions at the site."

Mr Pryke said the elimination of the gearbox reduces the number of moving parts and hence maintenance costs with the long blades enabling more wind sweeps and better reliability.

"It's good to start in a place that has the right legislative and community support... where the community actually wants a wind farm," he said.

Unlike some other proposed projects, there has been little opposition to Snowtown II because the turbines are sited on non-arable land distant from housing.

"South Australia has an acceptance of innovation and has demonstrated its willingness to get on board with wind projects and we are happy to help the state fast-track towards its 33 per cent renewable energy target by 2020," he said.

TrustPower Australia general manager Peter Calderwood said the local community remains hugely supportive of the expansion

In the past, it has received complaints about flashing lights on the existing wind farm, which were turned off.

Besides the jobs, TrustPower will pay 24 farmers $2.4 million in total annually for the next 25 years.

There are also annual contributions into a community fund managed by the Lions Club.

Mr Pryke said extensive noise modelling has been done on the project and it would meet all its compliance obligations.

"We are in for a long-term relationship with the community of Snowtown because we will be on the ground maintaining and operating the wind farm," he said.

Next week the first of the 90 wind turbine nacelles arrive - the heaviest component on the turbine weighing up to 75 tonnes each and housing all the generating parts.

Origin Energy has signed up to purchase 100 per cent of the power generated by the new development over 15 years in its biggest wind purchase agreement.

It is already purchasing 89 per cent of the power generated by the existing wind farm.

ElectraNet is supporting TrustPower with a low-emission transmission connection to its network.

South Australian manufacturer E&A Contractors is making 20 of the towers.

Snowtown II is currently the largest approved SA wind farm development.

The 199-turbine Ceres wind farm proposed by REpower Australia on land between Port Vincent and Port Julia on the Yorke Peninsula is awaiting State Government approval.

A parliamentary inquiry, chaired by Liberal MLC David Ridgway, is also investigating the economic, social and health impacts of wind power.

A senate inquiry tabled recommendations in 2011 calling for medical and acoustic studies.