Victoria’s Planning Minister yesterday announced the green light for a wind farm facility in Chepstowe, approximately 30 km west of Ballarat, Victoria.
Minister Matthew Guy said an independent assessment of the proposal found it to be consistent with the Victorian Government’s wind farm policy.
“This approval responds to concerns raised about potential impacts to local Brolga populations and proposes to locate all potentially hazardous power cables associated with the turbines underground,” said Minister Guy.
The Future Energy project will produce enough clean electricity annually to power over 3,400 average households and create a carbon abatement of 18,000 tonnes each year. Future Energy says according to the CSIRO, within the first few months of operation, wind farms generate enough electricity to cover the energy required to manufacture, transport, install and maintain them.
Aside from the landowner’s house, there are no occupied dwellings within two kilometres of the wind farm, and only eight within three kilometres of the wind farm.
The facility will consist of three wind turbines; each with a capacity of up to 2 MW. No further wind turbines will be erected at the site in the future as the nearby 22kV power line is incapable of accepting additional power beyond the output of three turbines.
Construction cost is estimated at approximately $18 million and is expected to have a life of 25 years.
A management plan will be prepared to monitor and manage bird life populations around the site and the approval also requires consideration for native vegetation offsets and assurance the facility is “compatible with identified environmental values”.
Melbourne-based Future Energy has a number of projects at various stages of development, ranging in size from 4 MW to 100 MW. The company is behind the Hepburn Community Wind Park, which will be Australia’s first community owned wind farm.
