Alinta joins wind rush to wheatbelt, upsizes turbines to avoid collisions with Carnaby black cockatoos

Another Western Australia Wheatbelt wind project may use taller turbines to avoid potential collisions with the endangered Carnaby’s black cockatoo. 

Alinta Energy has already adjusted the minimum tip height of 81 proposed turbines at the Marri project in the Dandaragan Shire, saying the bigger height is to help protect cockatoos in the area. 

The project is in the earliest of planning stages, with Alinta promising to lodge a planning application within the next three months. 

In April, Tilt Renewables asked for permission to increase the tip height of its 18 turbines at the Waddi project from 180m to 220m, on the same grounds. 

It cited its own survey from 2024 showing that Carnaby’s black cockatoos had been spotted in the area, usually at less than 20m above ground level. But occasionally the birds would fly as high as 50m, if disturbed by predators.

The council approved the change in July, saying the new lowest point of the turbine tip of 58m “should be sufficient to minimise the risk of collision”. 

Alinta has completed its own avian surveys and says these found nesting trees and important habitat trees in the area where it plans to build, so the project layout has been adjusted to protect these.

Taller turbines are more expensive, but also part of a trend in Australia to upsize as lengthy planning processes and strict environmental rules mean developers want to get the most out of each machine.

But taller turbines also mean changes to where they can go on a site. 

New rules for renewables projects in the Dandaragan Shire mean that taller turbines require a bigger setback from neighbouring property boundaries, with the distance now set at 1.1 times the maximum tip height. 

Alinta says it’s made this change which means a setback of at least 250-300m. That would suggest a turbine tip height of between 230-270m. 

The 550 megawatt (MW) Marri project is just to the south of the Tilt proposal and is one of the 24 projects clustering around the under-development 330 (kilovolt) kV transmission line taking gigawatts of new electricity from the Wheatbelt region down to Perth.

In a September update, Alinta said the project will cost $1.5 billion to build with a three year construction period starting in 2026. 

It’s also promising a four-tier neighbour payments system, with a one-off instalment paid during construction and annual payments for homes between 1.5km and 3.5km from turbines. 

See also: Neoen gets federal all-clear to build its first wind farm in Western Australia

And: Synergy proposes massive 2GW wind-solar-battery hub for WA’s wheatbelt region

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