Ace Power hits go on brave new proposal for a New England wind farm, along with solar and battery

A new wind farm has been proposed for the highly contentious New England arena in New South Wales (NSW), but the developer is hoping the local council will be more amenable to its proposal than those in Tamworth to the south. 

ACE Power wants to pop the 200–300 megawatt (MW) Hillview wind farm on the site next to a proposed big solar farm and a gigawatt scale battery installation, covering some 6000 hectares of farmland in the New England renewable energy zone (REZ).

There are a range of solar farms proposed or underway in the Uralla surrounds, which already hosts the country’s largest, called the New England solar farm,

But wind developers daring to contemplate a project in the New England REZ have come up against extremely sceptical communities in some cases, and more often local Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce’s anti-renewables culture war.

The Hillview site is south-east of Uralla and directly east of Kentucky, a town that fought hard for years against one of the only two other surviving wind farm proposals in the area, Neoen’s Thunderbolt.

To the north is the site of Ark Energy’s shelved 340 MW Doughboy wind farm, cancelled after landowners apparently changed their minds about hosting the project. 

Vestas’ giant 730 MW Winterbourne wind farm to the east has been the subject of vociferous and unhinged attacks by local MP Barnaby Joyce and his wife Vicky Campion. The developer recently made a series of changes to the design to mitigate the impact.

But Ace Power doesn’t anticipate opposition from the Uralla council – unlike what they might expect if they were closer to Tamworth where the council which is continuing its campaign against the state-approved Hills of Gold wind project.

“The project is close to Uralla rather than Tamworth; but the point stands to a degree. We don’t expect that Council will object to the project, but we do expect they will be advocating for their region,” says Ace Power senior development manager Clancy Bowman.

“We can’t shy away from the fact these are very large projects that can have impacts. What we’re trying to do is put the project together in a way that addresses community feedback, and finds ways to avoid, minimise and mitigate impacts.”

Although the initial planning documents are yet to be released publicly, Bowman says the $370 million wind component will come from up to 55 turbines and start operations around 2031 – providing the planning process goes as expected.

The early 2030s is about the same time as the New England REZ transmission infrastructure is supposed to be ready. 

The project itself will be co-located with the 270 MW Hillview solar farm and 1000 MW Eastern Hub firming battery which comes with a mammoth proposal of up to four to eight hours (4,009 MWh or 8,000 MWh) of storage.

The neighbour and community benefits scheme details are yet to be fleshed out, but Bowman says it will be in line with the new NSW renewables planning framework – the same one which depending on how the wording is read either caps developer community contributions or limits how much councils can demand.

“Both this project and Council are motivated to find opportunities for a long-term benefit for the LGA driven by project investment,” Bowman says.

“We’ve spoken a lot about what sort of legacy Hillview Wind Farm, and the REZ broadly, can leave. From ACE’s side, we’re very keen to continue the discussion about what the “cumulative benefits” within the REZ can looks like, across the Hillview projects and the REZ broadly.”

Bowman is hoping that by convincing landowners, and communities, of the financial security provided by steady income streams and shared benefits schemes, the cumulative nature of many projects clustered together might become a positive, rather than a negative, for New England locals.