About 90 wind turbines, like these along Lake George, have been proposed in the Bendenine Wind Farm Project. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A project to add nearly 100 wind turbines to the Yass Valley region has hit a roadblock.
Renewable energy company Wind Prospect has been preparing early application documents for the Bendenine Wind Farm Project.
According to the company’s website, about 90 turbines have been flagged for a site between Binalong and Bowning in the NSW Southern Tablelands, as well as a battery energy storage system (BESS).
However, in its September update, the company announced a planned scoping report had been put off to next year. (The report was initially flagged as being ready for submission this month.)
“The project team has since been liaising with the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI), other agency stakeholders, and the consultants carrying out the investigations to inform the scoping report,” the company said in a statement.
“As a result of these discussions, and to allow more time to carefully consider the feedback we’ve received from community members, Wind Prospect has recently decided to postpone the lodgement of the scoping report to the DPHI until next year.”
Wind Prospect’s managing director Ben Purcell pushed back on the idea that the decision was ‘on pause’, saying the company remained committed to the project.
“While feedback from the community is a factor in the decision to delay the lodgement of the scoping report, it is also in response to feedback from other stakeholders and an opportunity for us to increase our knowledge and understanding of the site and to include more relevant detail in the scoping report when it is lodged next year,” he told Region.
Mr Purcell pointed to other work he said was ongoing, such as environmental studies, the progression of detailed wind monitoring, refining the project’s design, and incorporating feedback into the scoping report.
“The scoping report is an element of the overall project development, and its delay may not impact the overall timeline.”
Further studies of the project’s environmental and social impacts will also be carried out as part of the application process.
The announcement is welcome news for the Binalong Bowning Community Action Group (the BBCAG), which has been pushing back against the proposal.
“The delay in scoping study is a small win – anything that delays the development of the Bendenine Wind Industrial Development [is something] we need to take as [a] win,” a spokesperson said in a statement on social media.
“But our fight against Wind Prospect and their backers Mint Renewables and Infratil NZ, the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation is not over.”
Mr Purcell said Wind Prospect was committed to transparency and to engaging with the community’s concerns.
Wind Prospect is developing the project and has an agreement with Mint Renewables to construct and operate the project.
