Canberra Times
Saturday 4/7/2009 Page: 9
A $250 million windfarm at Gullen Range near Crookwell has received development approval from the NSW Government. Despite the approval, the project, by Epuron, will not progress until the Federal Government legislates for 20% mandatory renewable energy. Project director Simon Davey said this had been a pillar of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's election platform. For political reasons, it had been linked to the emissions trading scheme.
Epuron executive director Andrew Durran said it was up to the Federal Government to stop delaying the expansion of renewable energy in Australia and implement the renewable energy target legislation. The project's approval, announced yesterday by NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally, coincides with the imminent commissioning of a 63-turbine windfarm between Bungendore and Tarago. It is claimed most of the electricity from that $280 million project will power Sydney's desalination plant. The remainder will be sold into the national electricity grid. The 73-turbine Gullen Range windfarms will be about 25km west of Goulburn.
Mr Davey said it would generate electricity equivalent to the average consumption of 63,000 homes. He claims it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The project would create about 150 jobs during construction and 15 operational jobs. Ms Keneally said conditions of approval included reducing from 84 to 73 the number of turbines to reduce possible impacts on the operations of nearby Crookwell airport.
Epuron would have to provide landscape screening and had agreed to operational restrictions when juvenile powerful owls began flying in the area. Mr Davey said construction of the wind farms would begin within two years of legislation setting the 20% mandatory renewable energy target. Construction was expected to take about another two years.
Meanwhile, Epuron was completing environmental studies for a 182-turbine windfarm about 25km west of Yass. As with the Gullen Range site, the mach larger project, to be built on three precincts, had excellent wind. Despite development approval in October 2005 for a $100 million windfarm on the Woodlawn and Pylara properties near Tarago, the project remains stalled with no purchaser for the electricity it would produce.
ActewAGL is one of four partners in that project, which would have about 25 turbines. ActewAGL general manager of business development and strategy Dianne O'Hara said yesterday dialogue continued between the four partners on how best to progress the project. Construction of a 60-turbine wind farms on the Molonglo Ridge, about 15km south east of Queanbeyan, was cancelled in May last year by Acciona Energy.
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