Moonies Hill New Energy has cleared a planning hurdle to build a controversial wind farm project in Kojonup, estimated to cost $750 million.
Moonies Hill New Energy has cleared a planning hurdle to build a controversial wind farm project in Kojonup, estimated to cost $750 million.
The Regional Development Assessment Panel has approved the wind farm developer’s proposal to build a 33-turbine wind farm about 20 kilometres south of the Kojonup townsite.
Associated infrastructure includes a substation, battery energy storage system, layout areas, operations and maintenance building, cables, a temporary concrete batching plant and fire water tanks.
The wind farm is estimated to generate 680 gigawatts of electricity a year.
Neighbouring landowners have opposed the proposed development, over concerns about the distance between the turbines and their properties.
The Shire of Kojonup recommended that the DAP defer the proposal to give Moonies time to prepare a noise impact assessment.
As an alternative, the shire suggested a string of conditions if the development was to be approved including a minimum 1,000 metre-setback between a wind turbine and a non-host landholding boundary, unless a landholder agreement is signed.
At the DAP meeting, WAFarmers president Steve McGuire pushed for the shire’s suggested setback requirement to be implemented.
Mr McGuire also called for better consultation processes, saying the community had learned some lessons from the construction of the Flat Rocks wind farm, which was also built in Kojonup.
“At the moment, we have no agency, we have no power in discussion,” he said.
“I have a choice between signing an agreement … there’s a caveat placed over my land, I can’t complain about it for 30-50 years and in return I get some money and a wind tower on my boundary.
“If I don’t sign it, I can complain and I [still] get a wind tower on my boundary.”
Moonies Hill previously gained approval for the Flat Rocks wind farm, also near Kojonup.
Flat Rocks Stage 1 was sold to Enel Green Power, which was subsequently bought by Potentia Energy.
Enel Green Power built a 75-megawatt wind farm on the site in 2022.
The Water Corporation bought the rights to develop Flat Rocks Stage 2 but has not proceeded with the project.
The shire’s recommendation to defer the proposal was lost after only two DAP members supported it.
“I don’t think that deferring it for this particular reason is going to assist in the actual operation of the wind farm,” DAP deputy presiding member Eugene Koltasz said.
“They’ve [the applicant] already demonstrated compliance, they’ve already demonstrated that they are the ones that takes the risk of building the wind turbines at this location.
“If they can’t comply with the noise… it’s up to them to make the changes.
Three out of five panel members voted to approve the development, with presiding member Dale Page saying she struggled to support a deferral based on the concerns raised.
“I understand that a lot of the anxiety that has been caused as a result of this proposal has to do with the community and has to do with the process that has been followed; the engagement, the agreements… who’s impacted and so on,” she said at the meeting.
“Those are very important issues for the community, but from a planning decision maker perspective, it’s really not something that this panel can use to defer or refuse an application on.”
The development site covers about 5,872 hectares of predominantly cleared land used for cropping and livestock grazing.
