One of Australia’s leading wind farm developers has delivered on its threat to switch to a Chinese turbine maker after announcing financial close, key contractors and a construction start for the first wind project in Australia to get the green light in fiscal 2026/27.
Shanghai-based Envision Energy is to supply the 23 turbines for Neoen Australia’s 179 megawatt (MW) Narrogin wind farm in Western Australia’s wheatbelt, a major coup for the Chinese developer, a new player in the Australian market.
Envision has already landed a major contract with Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue for the 132 MW Nullagine wind project in the Pilbara, and sent its first turbines en route to Australia last week, and seems well placed to deliver on the rest of that company’s near gigawatt scale wind plans.
The potential shift to Envision was flagged two years ago by Neoen when it expressed frustration with the quality and pricing of existing suppliers, and the move suggests a major shakeup of the local industry which has been creaking under the pressures of rising costs, planning delays and the lack of contracts.
“We do see today … some equivalence between the quality of Chinese turbines and Western turbines and we see, of course, more competitive prices coming from those potential suppliers,” Neoen CEO Xavier Barbaro said at the time.
