Windlab Systems makes BRW Fast 100
Windlab Systems has made the BRW 2008 Fast 100 list.
To appear in the list companies must have achieved an average annual growth rate to June 2008 of over 44%. The full article can be viewed behind a paywall here.
Windlab execs visit Capital Wind Farm
On Tuesday 21st October the Board of Directors and Senior Management of Windlab Systems conducted a field visit to the Capital Wind Farm. The Project is located on ridges of the Great Dividing Range to the east of Lake George, approximately 12 kilometres south-west of Tarago and about 10 kilometres north of Bungendore in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.
According to the planning application the project is for 63 x 2.1 megawatt wind turbines and when complete, will have a capacity of 132MW. The Project also includes an electrical substation to facilitate connection to an existing TransGrid 330,000 volt transmission line, a facilities building, temporary and permanent wind monitoring towers, underground cables, a twelve kilometre internal overhead power line, and access tracks and works.
The wind turbines will be a three bladed rotor type, 90 metres in diameter, mounted on 80 metre tall towers. The top of the blade sweep will be approximately 124 metres above ground level.
The project was bought by Babcock and Brown in Dec 2007.
Windlab data featured in Renewable Energy Atlas
On Friday 17th October Environment Minister Peter Garrett launched the renewable energy atlas to map the full extent of Australia's renewable energy resources.
The Atlas provides information on Australia's Renewable Energy Resources profiling wind, solar, geothermal, ocean energy and bioenergy resources. There is also contextual data such as energy infrastructure, transmission lines and power plants, roads, land tenure and climate information. The Renewable Energy Atlas is designed for everyone interested in renewable energy, including government policy makers, decision makers in the renewable energy industry and educational and community institutions who wish to learn more about renewable energy in the Australian context. The Renewable Energy Atlas is designed to provide enough information to give a high level overview with appropriate contact details for those who wish to pursue their investigations further.
The Renewable Energy Atlas was developed by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts with data provided by specialist service providers, including Windlab Systems. A sample wind map taken from the atlas can be found here.
Windlab Systems announces wind energy partnership with Investec Bank in South Africa
Windlab Systems, a world-leader in the development and application of atmospheric modelling systems used to locate and develop wind energy sites today announced an extension to its wind development partnership with Investec Bank.
The new partnership covers a portfolio of 14 potential projects under development by Windlab in South Africa. Investec and Windlab will now co-develop these projects which have potential to provide up to 800MW of clean wind energy to the South African electricity market.
Nathan Steggel, Windlab's General Manager for the Asian and African regions stated "Our partnership with Investec Bank has been highly successful to-date. We expect around 600MW from our Australian portfolio to reach financial close over the next 6-24 months. In South Africa our technology has a strong advantage and provides Windlab and Investec with a great opportunity to enhance our portfolio of premium wind projects".
"The current need for energy in South Africa and in particular clean sources of energy makes this an exciting opportunity and we look forward to developing these projects with Windlab over the next few years – however, to make these projects financeable still requires some sort of incentive such as a renewable feed-in tariff" noted Michael Meeser, Head of Project & Infrastructure Finance, Investec Capital Markets, South Africa.
Windlab has recently opened an office in Cape Town to service its local operations and has appointed Francis Jackson to manage Windlab's South African operations. Francis, who spent four years working with a New Zealand wind turbine manufacturer before returning home, said "I'm pleased to have the opportunity to see this input of international expertise into our wind industry. Over the coming years I look forward to driving forward the implementation of the Windlab/Investec project portfolio and seeing the benefits of a significant amount of truly sustainable energy reach all sectors of South African society."
About Windlab Systems: Windlab Systems is a world-leader in the development and application of atmospheric modelling systems used to locate and develop wind energy sites rapidly and cost-effectively. Windlab has offices in Melbourne and Canberra, Australia and our Canadian and South African operations are run out of Calgary and Cape Town respectively. Windlab is in the process of expanding operations and staff in the USA and India. We currently have a world class portfolio of projects under active development, totalling more than 7,000MW of potential capacity across five countries. www.windlabsystems.com
ABOUT INVESTEC BANK Investec, (comprising Investec plc and Investec Limited) is an international, specialist banking group that provides a diverse range of financial products and services to a select client base. We strive to be a distinctive specialist banking group, driven by commitment to our core philosophies and values.
Founded as a leasing company in Johannesburg in 1974, Investec acquired a banking license in 1980 and were listed on the JSE Limited South Africa in 1986. In July 2002, we implemented a Dual Listed Companies (DLC) structure with linked companies listed in London and Johannesburg. A year later, we concluded a significant empowerment transaction in which our empowerment partners collectively acquired a 25.1% stake in the issued share capital of Investec Limited. Since inception, we have expanded through a combination of substantial organic growth and a series of strategic acquisitions. Today, we have an efficient integrated international business platform, offering all our core activities in the UK and South Africa and select activities in Australia. www.investec.com
Windlabs CEO featured in BRW
Mark Sinclair, CEO, Windlab Systems is featured in the Lifescycle / Innovation section of the August 14-20 issue of Business Review Weekly (BRW). The full article is here behind a pay wall.
Windlab Systems was formed in May 2003 with seed funding from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Epicorp. Blue Cove Ventures participated in Windlabs Series "A" investment round in July 2007.
Windlabs featured in Fin Review Article
The $1.2Bn Coopers Gap project moved a step closer this week after gaining community support. The Australian Financial Review covered the story here.
The article reports that the project should generate enough power for 320,000 homes from 252 Wind Turbines. This project is the first of 12 to come to fruition in Australia and is being jointly developed by Windlabs and Investec Bank.
Windlab Systems was formed in May 2003 with seed funding from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Epicorp. Blue Cove Ventures participated in Windlabs Series "A" investment round in July 2007.
Article: Canberra Times - Software to map a wind of change
On Monday 27th August in the business section of The Canberra Times Sonya Neufeld wrote an excellent piece on Windlabs. The article is reproduced below.
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As the climate change debate heats up there is no better time than now to be a software company that develops award-winning renewable energy technology.
Formed in 2003 and thanks to funding from CSIRO and Epicorp, Canberra based Windlab Systems has created software tools to improve the efficiency of wind farms.
Tools that find windy areas and then discover the windiest parts of those areas may not sound like much, but they play a crucial role in developing ideal wind-generation sites across the globe.
They also enable users to calculate energy yields and turbine layouts, and assess how wind farms will appear in the environment, before full-scale planning begins.
Chief Executive Mark Sinclair said Windlab's work was important because it enabled wind energy to better compete with more traditional forms of energy. "We aim to find the best wind resource site in conjunction with all the other constraints that go around building wind farms," Mr Sinclair said. "By reducing the risk and getting a better wind resource, we're in effect reducing the cost of that project and increasing the energy that comes out of it at the end of the day."
He said that reduced the time it takes to get such projects to market. "Ultimately, that increases the opportunity to get renewable energy into the system earlier, which has important environmental benefits."
As a renewable energy source of energy, wind power enabled electricity to be generated without carbon dioxide emissions. It was the fastest growing energy technology globally and had rapidly expanded in Australia over the last few years.
But Mr Sinclair said compared with the rest of the world, Australia did not have a particularly vibrant renewable energy industry. "Nonetheless, there are some great ideas in Australia and the technology that came out of CSIRO and formed Windlab was one that has been successfully commercialised," he said.
Windlab raised $5 million from venture capital last week to expand internationally. It has projects secured in Canada as well as partnerships in South Africa and China. The company is also planning to move into the rapidly growing Indian and South American renewable energy markets.
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Blue Cove Ventures is one of the investors in Windlab Systems.
