Huge wind farm for Mad Max country

Sydney Morning Herald
Monday 8/10/2007 Page: 8

A GIANT $2 billion wind farm proposed for western NSW could double the number of turbines operating in Australia and provide as much electricity as a large coal-fired power plant. Epuron Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the German renewable energy group Conergy AG, will today announce plans to build as many as 500 turbines, generating enough electricity for 400,000 homes. They would be built on the ranges that rise around the Mundi Mundi plains, north-west of Broken Hill. The wind farm would be 10 times bigger than the next largest wind farm approved for NSW and could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. It would produce up to 4.5 per cent of NSW's energy needs in a typical year.

The site - not far from the small town of Silverton, which is best known as the backdrop for films such as Max Max II and A Town Like Alice - was chosen following CSIRO research showing western NSW had some of the best wind resources in the country. The low population density was also attractive. The announcement follows news last month that the Federal Government would set a national mandatory clean energy target of 30,000 gigawatt hours of electricity a year by 2020. There is also legislation before the NSW Parliament mandating a 15 per cent target for renewable power for the state by 2020. There is some concern the federal target would result in less renewable energy because it would replace state-based schemes projected to generate almost 41,000 gigawatt hours of energy by 2020.

Epuron Pty Ltd was "taking a bit of a gamble" proceeding with the plan in the face of uncertainty about government regulation, the company's executive director, Andrew Durran, said. "It will rely on strong government legislation to enable us to build it but we have looked at what is going on in the power industry and at the direction governments are taking," Mr Durran said. The CSIRO found wind speeds in the area were competitive with wind farms in better known wind regions such as Tasmania and South Australia.

It was very exciting to find such a strong wind resource in western NSW, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, Dominique La Fontaine, said. Ms La Fontaine said investors needed clear indications from governments about energy policy and it would be disastrous if state renewable energy schemes were put on hold because of a delay at the federal level. Epuron Pty Ltd has begun negotiations with four landowners in the area to lease land and has held informal talks with state government departments. It hopes construction will start in late 2009. The operation and maintenance of the wind farm is expected to create between 50 and 100 direct jobs, with an injection of at least $15 million a year into the local economy, the company says.