Walkaway, Western Australia

Walkaway is a small town in the City of Greater Geraldton local government area of Western Australia. At the, Walkaway had a population of 262.Its name is a corruption of the native "Wagga wah", referring to the bend in the nearby Greenough River, and was originally given to the railway station when a line was built from Geraldton in 1887. In 1894 it was linked with Midland Junction by the building of a private line - that of the Midland Railway Company, constructed by an engineer and later the first General Manager of the Company, Edward Keane. With the railway and an expanding agricultural area, the township grew until with the dieselisation of the railway systems, and the take-over by the State of the Midland Railway in 1964, decline set in. This was also accentuated by the gradual absorption of the original smallholdings into the larger holdings of today's farming demands.Renewable EnergyA number of renewable energy generation projects are located near Walkaway. Current projects (2014) produce 162 Megawatts of electrical power. Additional projects along with upgrades to current projects are scheduled for construction. The Midwest region is identified as a potential location for developing renewable energy technologies that include additional wind and solar photovoltaic electricity projects, solar thermal, geothermal, bioenergy, and ocean energy.Walkaway Wind FarmThe Walkaway Wind Farm, east of Walkaway, was completed in August 2005. It consists of 54 turbines, each producing, high, and with 40mblade spans. Development consent has been given for an expansion of the project to up to 400MW.