The originator of the largest onshore wind farm currently being developed in Australia, the 1.3 gigawatt (GW) Golden Plains project in Victoria, has unveiled new plans to build a 1.5 GW wind project with a massive, four-hour battery in south-western New South Wales.
A referral for WestWind Energy’s Lake Victoria wind farm appeared in the queue for federal environmental approval this week, seeking to install up to 203 turbines and a 600 megawatt (MW), 2400 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) about 24km northwest of Wentworth.
The documents say that the proposed site is a mix of freehold and Crown Land that has been used primarily for agricultural purposes. The turbines, battery and other infrastructure will take up around 5 per cent of the total 41,700 hectares project area.
WestWind says it has been engaging with key stakeholders about the Lake Victoria Wind Farm since February 2022 and with the community since March 2024 as “part of its commitment to early, meaningful, respectful and effective engagement.”
It says the project layout has already undergone various design amendments in response to feedback from stakeholders and the results of preliminary ecological and cultural heritage investigations.
According to the project website, WestWind has committed to put a minimum of $2,000 per turbine, per year into a Community Benefit Fund attached to the wind farm.
As the company notes in its EPBC referral, it is currently the largest developer of wind energy projects in Victoria by approved megawatts of generation – an achievement it attributes to “working with Victorian regional and rural communities” and “strict compliance with all environmental protection laws and regulations.”
Having originated the massive Golden Plains project in Rokewood, Victoria, WestWind appears to have an appetite for giga-scale projects, having also unveiled plans in July to build a 1.5GW wind farm in northern Queensland’s Flinders Shire.
The early stage plan for the project is to install up to 200 turbines, with a height of 280 metres from ground to tip, on a site area of around 32,000 hectares.
The Golden Plains project – now majority owned by Portugal-based TagEnergy – was the scene of a tragic incident this week, when a worker died after being crushed by a turbine blade on Monday morning.
Vestas, which is leading construction of the huge project, is now leading an investigation into how this happened and says it will work with the project partners to take steps to prevent it recurring in the future.
