Lal Lal Wind Farm (comprising the Elaine and Yendon sites) connect into the National Electricity Grid. This is an interconnected grid that covers Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

The National Electricity Grid is supplied with electricity from a large number of geographically and technologically diverse generators including renewable energy and gas and coal-fired power stations. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) manages the system to ensure that a mix of generators and storage technologies are available to meet electricity demand.

Below are some reasons that wind turbines at Lal Lal Wind Farm may not be rotating;

• General maintenance: Similar to when you service your car, wind turbines are no different and require maintenance over the year. We have 60 turbines at Lal Lal across Elaine and Yendon. Our technicians are servicing turbines throughout the year. During maintenance we have to switch the turbine/s off so we can undertake our work safely. We also need to undertake maintenance on sub stations and other equipment associated with the wind farm. 
   

• Negative pricing: Prices in the Australian energy wholesale market is determined by supply and demand.  At times, turbines may not be operating when demand for electricity is low and the supply of electricity is high. This tends to occur during the day when solar projects are generating electricity. When this happens, our turbines might not operate. Our wind turbines turn on and off automatically in response to this which can be many times in a day at certain times.  

• Grid Curtailment:  With Lal Lal connected to the National Electricity Grid, when there is too much electricity in the grid, AEMO will curtail the output of power from generators (such as our turbines at Lal Lal) and during this time turbines might not operate.