Controversial wind farm in far north Queensland cut in half, gets new name

A wind farm proposed for Queensland’s Tablelands region has been cut in half, for the second time, with developer Ark Energy revealing that the contentious project will now feature 42 wind turbines, instead of 86, and will proceed under a new name.

Ark Energy – part of the massive Korea Zinc group – said on Tuesday that the wind farm formerly known as Chalumbin will now be named Wooroora, after the pastoral stations that will host it in Queensland’s far north.

Further, the new-look Wooroora Station Wind Farm will target a generation capacity of 294MW instead of the 602MW previously sought by Ark Energy, after 44 of the project’s turbines were culled from the plans.

“After extensive public consultation, we have listened to feedback from the community, government, and the traditional owners, and made changes to the project to meet expectations,” said Ark Energy’s head of projects in Queensland Anthony Russo.

“We look forward to working with all key stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes and we are committed to getting this project right from the outset and delivering on world’s best practice in the energy sector.”

As RenewEconomy has reported, Chalumbin was originally proposed as a 200 turbine project, but was whittled back to 95 and then 86 turbines, with a combined capacity of 602MW, to avoid sensitive ecological and cultural heritage sites.

Community and green groups have raised concerns about the project’s location close to national parks that form part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area. Concerns have also been raised about the potential impact of the project on the magnificent brood frog, masked owl and the northern greater glider.

Ark Energy says the new design includes a minimum buffer of 1km to neighbouring World Heritage areas, and completely avoids wet sclerophyll forest adjoining the World Heritage Area as well as all known magnificent brood frog habitats.

The project’s plans also include rehabilitation of most of the construction disturbance and the establishment of magnificent brood frog nature reserves totalling 1,255 hectares.

It also includes First Nations-led fire management and control of widespread feral pests and invasive weeds, to improve the host property’s habitat for key native species.

As well as addressing lingering environmental and ecological concerns, Ark Energy will be hoping the changes to the wind farm get it out of the cross-hairs of prominent anti-wind campaigners, including Murdoch media regular Nick Cater.

Cater, among others, has eagerly jumped on the bandwagon in opposition to the project, using his conservative media platform to stir up controversy, much of it confected, about its proposed location – “slap bang in the middle” of lush tropical rainforest, he claimed here – and its impact on first nations people and culture.

One of the more popular pieces of misinformation being spread in the media has been that the wind farm encroaches directly on Chalumbin Hill, which is a sacred place to the local Jirrbal Peoples.

We know this is not true, because Jirrbal Peoples elder Brad Sam-Go addressed this particular bit of “misinformation” in an open letter published in major newspapers at the end of July.

Sam-Go, who supports the wind farm – and supported it in its previous 88 turbine form – said in the letter that the project “is not located on or near Chalumbin Hill,” which he confirms is “very sensitive to Jirrbal Peoples.”

In the letter, Sam-Go suggests that the project’s now discarded name – which came from its planned connection to the existing Chalumbin power substation – could have caused confusion on this subject.

Ark Energy has a slightly different view.

“Some opponents took advantage of the former name to spread misinformation and make unsubstantiated claims about what kind of habitat and species are in the project area and therefore the environmental impacts of the development,” Russo said this week.

“The reality is the project is NOT within the World Heritage area and it is important that the project is represented accurately and the public have the facts.”

In reality, the wind farm was planned for development on land within two privately owned cattle-grazing properties, Wooroora Station and Glen Gordon Station. It is now limited to within the Wooroora Station.

And according to Sam-Go, the establishment of the wind farm will enable the Jirrbal Peoples to access areas on that property currently not available to them.

“It will bring opportunity for our peoples and help improve land that is now covered in weed and pests,” he said in the letter.

“The company has been working with us since 2019 to ensure they are respectful of Jirrbal Peoples’ connection to this area.

“The project is a win-win as we get local jobs on country and the environment gets a win too.

“If people want to oppose the wind farm for valid reasons they should be honest about it,” he continues. “But don’t misrepresent the truth and don’t misrepresent the views of the majority of the Jirrbal People. Our voice is our own.”

For Ark Energy, the latest changes to the project design along with the name change are hoped to deliver a way forward that answers legitimate concerns and wards off further controversy, confected or otherwise.

“We must navigate the tension between the construction required to transition to a clean energy system and protecting nature, and this project’s evolution offers an excellent case study of major design iterations to achieve nature positive outcomes,” Russo says.

“These changes reduce the impacts to very low levels. We believe the benefits to the natural environment of this project far outweigh its impacts,” he adds.

“Not least of them more clean energy into the grid in a relatively short time period and a significant improvement in habitat for protected species on private land adjacent to protected forests.”

A variation has been lodged with the federal government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, which is currently assessing the proposal.