Victoria clears WestWind's updated plan for 800-MW Golden Plains wind park

Aussie wind farm developer WestWind Energy has secured planning approval for its amended 800-MW Golden Plains project in Victoria.

The final nod was given by the state’s planning minister Richard Wynne with a provision for 215 turbines, while WestWind’s initial plan envisaged the installation of 228 machines in the Golden Plains Shire.

At the start of 2021, the developer applied to amend the project’s design to include only 215 turbines of up to 230 metres in height. The move was undertaken following the original planning permission for the scheme from end-2019 that brought WestWind into a prolonged court battle, during which opponents aimed to overturn the approval on concerns that the development would have a negative effect on local breeding sites.

The scaled-down layout is still being finalised, WestWind said. According to the planning minister, the updated proposal was not required to be sent to a planning panel as the total number of turbines and their height have not been increased since the original approval.

In the summer of 2019, GE Renewable Energy was picked as the preferred turbine supplier for the project, originally estimated to cost between AUD 1.5 billion (USD 1.07bn/EUR 951.4m) and AUD 1.7 billion.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.715/EUR 0.634)

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