Three wind projects with a combined proposed capacity of up to 130 megawatts have been given the green light to go ahead in Victoria by the state Labor government, but two of them are still waiting on federal sign-off, stuck in what the developer describes as a long, drawn-out and opaque EPBC process.
Australian renewables developer RE Future says it has completed a “hat trick of Victorian wind farm planning permits” with the last of its three distribution-connected projects, the eight-turbine Mumblin Wind Farm, making it over the line in June.
The three permitted projects – including the 40 MW, up to six turbine Brewster wind farm and the five-turbine, 35 MW Swanson’s Lane wind farm – are all located in central western Victoria, and aim to connect to the local distribution network.
RE Future says the Brewster wind farm, near Beaufort, and the Mumblin and Swansons Lane projects, both near Terang, are in the final stages of securing their connection agreements with Powercor.
RE Future managing director David Shapero, who was instrumental in the delivery of the ground-breaking community wind farm in Hepburn, in Victoria, says his team has been “very grateful” for Powercor’s support, working through solutions for connecting the latest generation of 7 MW-plus turbines directly into the sub-transmission network.
