Community consultation on yet another district wind farm project will be hosted next week.
The proposed Wilan Wind Farm will straddle the border between Murray River Council and Hay Shire Council, about 40km north of Moulamein.
Originally submitted as a scoping project in 2022, its proponents are now working on the environmental impacts statements (EIS) stage of the process.
The project is being pursued by Kilara Energy, and is expected to deliver up to 138 wind turbines capable of producing up to 800 MW, which is the equivalent of providing energy to up to 470,000 homes.
The project is also being designed to potentially include a battery energy storage system (BESS) to store the electricity until it is required by the grid.
Kilara Energy anticipate the project will create up to 400 jobs during the peak of construction and about 12 ongoing jobs during the operational life of the project.
Like other similar renewable energy projects, there will be a community benefit fund.
The project’s EIS must be completed before a development application for the project will be considered.
“Wilan Wind Farm is now working on Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) assessment to apply for approvals,” the project’s website says.
“This means native birds and bats and other important flora and fauna in the area have been assessed by the federal government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
“A specialist assessment team from Canberra visited the site to explore key project characteristics in April 2023.
“A further visit by the Biodiversity Conservation team from the NSW Government was completed in November 2023.
“Kilara will continue to conduct important environmental studies during the EIS phase of work.”
The Wilan Wind Farm project team will be in Balranald, Hay, and Moulamein between August 8 and 10 to host the next round of community information sessions and pop-up stalls.
“Our team is excited to share project updates and answer any questions you might have about the proposed Wilan Wind Farm. Everyone is welcome at the upcoming sessions; registration is not required,” the proponents said.
The sessions start in Balranald with a community information session at the Balranald Football Netball Club next Thursday night, August 8, followed by a pop-up at the Balranald Discovery Centre Cafe the next day.
The next information session will be hosted at the Hay Public School from 5pm to 8pm on August 9, before a pop-up stall at the Wattle Cafe in Moulamein from 9am to 11am on August 10.
Wilan Wind Farm means there are now eight energy projects being actively pursued for our region, all by different proponents.
Others are West Nyangay Solar Farm, Saltbush Wind Farm, Bullawah Wind Farm, Pottinger Energy Park, Yanco Delta Wind and Energy Storage facility, the Avenis Energy battery energy storage system at Caldwell, and the Trasngrid overhead electricity network proposal which will run from near Jerilderie to Swan Hill.
Transgrid will also host community consultation sessions next week, on the community investment and benefits part of its proposal.
These meetings will be held in Wanganella, Jerilderie, Moulamein and Mallan, with more details and a link to register for attendance in the ad on page 5 of today’s edition.