Do not pass go: South-west NSW wind project sent to get federal green tick

A 680 megawatt wind farm proposed for the lush farmland near Narrandera in south-west New South Wales (NSW) has been sent into the federal environment queue – before it’s ventured into the state planning process.

The Devlins Bridge wind farm was unveiled in December last year with a proposal to pop up to 94 turbines on a 7,260 hectare piece of land. Each could generate up to 7.2 MW.

The site is outside the south-west renewables zone but lies along one of the existing main transmission lines. It hopes to begin construction in 2027, and could also host a big battery.

Twelve landowners will play host to turbines, all of whom support the project, and the developer says the community fund will be larger than that required by NSW government guidelines. 

The developer is Stromlo Energy, a new Australian-owned company set up by former Neoen Australia employees Garth Heron and Matt Parton.

“It’s more than 20kms from the nearest town. It sits on a 330kV power line and there is already lots of solar in the area, but no wind. The wind blows mostly at night, and ramps up when the solar ramps down. Our studies show there should be low levels of curtailment,” Heron told Renew Economy when announcing the project last year. 

The area is already popular with solar farms, but big wind projects are also looking to gain a foothold.

Origin Energy’s proposed 900 MW Yarrabee solar farm is directly next door. Iberdrola’s Avonlie solar farm is also to the south, and the Coleambally and Darlington Point farms are to the west. 

If the Devlins Bridge project were built today it would be the largest wind project in NSW.  But it would be rapidly overtaken by several gigawatt scale wind projects that are also being proposed in the same region, including Origin’s Yanco Delta wind farm, the the Someva-AGL Pottinger energy park.

Currently, the largest is the 396 MW Rye Park wind farm in the Southern Tablelands. Owner Tilt Renewables installed the last blade in March.

Renew Economy has reached out to Stromlo for a comment.