Adelaide Advertiser
Saturday 27/6/2009 Page: 85
A PROPOSAL to build a windfarm near Mt Gambier is about to be submitted to the State Government. Acciona Energy, co-owner with Roaring 40s of the Cathedral Rocks Windfarm outside Port Lincoln, wants to build a 75MW plant on pastoral land near Allendale East, 20km south of Mt Gambier. "We expect to submit that application very soon," Acciona group managing director for Asia Pacific Brett Thomas said yesterday.
Comprehensive studies had been completed and consultation work done with the local community, Mr Thomas said. He said there was plenty of demand for wind energy and he was optimistic government policies would encourage this further. "SA is well set up with the way it attracts wind energy projects and the way it ensures that while they are rigorous in design and rigorous in the planning and approval process at the same time they're very efficient at getting them through," he said.
The industry was collaborating with the Government to address challenges arising in infrastructure requirements as SA moved towards a greater role for renewables, he said. The Allendale East windfarm is expected to cost about $200 million. Mr Thomas acknowledged raising finance at the moment was difficult. "But Acciona is a very strong global company with a fantastic record," he said. Australian banking groups were keen to work with renewable projects such as Acciona's, he said. The Allendale project would employ about 100 people in the construction phase and 10 to 15 ongoing jobs would be created to run the farm.
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