After almost 20 years, Inverleigh wind project near Geelong is almost shovel-ready

A new renewable energy developer has unveiled its first project in Australia, bringing the 100 megawatt (MW) Inverleigh wind farm in regional Victoria to life after almost 20 years of planning.

The project near Geelong will feature 15 GE Vernova 6.1MW turbines and connect to the Geelong terminal station.

The developer is BEA Renewables, the local arm of Chicago-based energy investor Blue Star Energy Capital, and it worked with another developer to get the Inverleigh project running. 

Construction is due to start later this year after a speedy journey through grid connection processes, with commissioning expected around 2027, says BEA Renewables managing director Steve Jackson. 

“We had a great experience working with GE Vernova’s team on the grid modelling. Thanks to that work and the constructive relationship with Powercor and AEMO, we have been able to move through the [grid connection] assessment process in under ten months,” he said in a statement. 

“We are looking forward to bringing in a finance partner to the project in the coming months and are working with ICA Partners to facilitate that.”

Long journey

Jackson says they came on as a partner two years ago in 2022, and just a month before planning approval was secured. 

Until then, WFD had battled alone through Victoria’s changing planning processes and community opposition, a journey they’d been on since 2007.

The project was originally the 13-turbine Winchelsea wind project and was later redesigned to include a solar project and battery. 

There is no plan at this stage to add a battery to the current wind farm, Jackson says.

Problems arose in 2011 when the Baillieu government introduced setbacks that gave households veto power over turbines within 2km of their home. This was reduced to 1km in 2015 by Labor premier Dan Andrews. 

During this time, a rump of fearful locals were building a case against the project, after which the Surf Coast Shire council said in a 2018 submission that community engagement could have been handled better. 

But in 2022 the project won ministerial approval to go ahead. 

WFD estimates the project will cost up to $230 million, creating 17 ongoing direct and indirect jobs and coming with a $45,000 p.a community fund.  

Following the Surf Coast council’s 2018 warning that wind farms were a sensitive topic and needed to be handled carefully, the Inverleigh wind farm appears now to be following a more innovative community engagement process.

It has proposed a committee including up to three local community representatives with at least one living within 3-5km of the project, two council reps and up to three people from the project to help with news flow to locals as well as handle any problems that may come up.