$8m wind farm opens

Western Australia's newest wind farm has opened on a sheep property near Mt Barker, after gaining 50:50 government funding.

The Mt Barker Wind Farm is expected to generate about 8,400 megawatt hours of electricity each year from three 800-kilowatt turbines, enough to power up to 1,500 homes in the region.

"The facility is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year," Energy Minister Peter Collier said in a statement.

"Power from the wind farm will be purchased under a long-term agreement by energy retailer Synergy and fed into the South West Interconnected System."

The wind farm's owners, Mt Barker Power Company Pty Ltd, engaged SkyFarming of Fremantle to develop and build the 73-metre tall wind generators that support the local electricity system.

The Mt Barker Wind Farm was partly funded with $4.2 million from the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program, an Australian government-funded initiative managed by the Office of Energy in WA.

A similar capital outlay was provided by major investor and project partner, Advanced Energy Resources.