Abbott hangover? Iberdrola further delays wind farm first sidelined by 2013 RET review

Plans to build a 274MW wind farm on South Australia’s Woakwine Range have been put on hold for a third time, after current owner Iberdrola successfully requested an extension to the project’s planning permit.

Construction of the wind farm, which had been set to start this month, has been pushed out by another three years after Southern Limestone Coast Regional Assessment Panel approved a request to delay its start date to May 2026.

Woakwine first received development approval in 2012 under its original owner Infigen Energy, but was one of many major large-scale wind and solar projects to be put on ice when the Abbott government’s threat to scrap the federal Renewable Energy Target brought the industry to a stand-still.

In 2015, then Infigen managing director Miles George penned an open letter published by RenewEconomy detailing the damage wrought by Abbott’s near two-year freeze on large-scale renewable energy investment in Australia.

“The effect of this investment freeze is being felt most in rural and regional Australia. Infigen Energy’s South Australian wind projects provide a case in point,” George wrote.

“Prospective projects such as … Woakwine wind farm to the north of our Lake Bonney project… have been put on the backburner,” he said.

“Woakwine offers similar benefits to the local economy as our Lake Bonney project, as do the more than 6,000MW of renewable energy projects with planning approval spread across Australia.”

Come 2023, Woakwine is owned by Iberdrola, through its 2020 takeover of Infigen, and the Australian renewables market has come a long way, not least due to the 2022 change in federal government.

RenewEconomy has reached out to the Spain-based Iberdrola on the reasons for the latest delay to the wind farm, and is still awaiting a response.

In comments to ABC News, an Iberdrola spokesperson is quoted as saying that “several factors” had led to the “prolonged” development timeline, including the investment freeze triggered by the Abbott government in 2013 and, more recently, delays caused by Covid.

The spokesperson also reportedly said that for Woakwine to start construction by May 2026 it needed to complete further grid connection studies and finalise engineering plans.

“The site has a very strong wind resource and as a result we anticipate Woakwine will produce approximately 1TWh per year of output, equivalent to approximately 200,000 households,” the spokesperson said.

“We anticipate that Woakwine will create 10-15 full time jobs during its [more than] 30-year operational life, plus an additional 200-300 jobs during the future construction phase.”