Epuron bumps NSW wind farm up to 600MW in possible dam land deal

Plans for the 400MW Burrendong wind farm in New South Wales’ central west region have been boosted to a potential 650MW, after WaterNSW expressed interest in developing its own renewables project on government land.

The wind farm’s developer, Epuron, said late last week that WaterNSW had launched a Renewable Energy and Storage Program (Stage 2) seeking partners for projects, including on land around the Burrendong Dam.

“Based on this opportunity Epuron is participating in WaterNSW’s process and has revised the Burrendong Wind Farm proposal to incorporate additional wind turbine locations on adjacent WaterNSW land,” the company said.

“The expanded design includes up to 105 wind turbines with an expected output capacity of 650 megawatts.”

Epuron’s proposal is currently being evaluated by WaterNSW alongside proposals submitted by other proponents that remain part of the process.

Epuron said that updated requirements for the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) were due to be issued by the NSW department of planning, while the company updated assessments and specialist reports for the potentially expanded project.

Epuron has some hefty renewable energy projects in the pipeline around Australia at the moment, including the 372MW Boulder Creek wind farm in Queensland that will be one of the biggest in the state, so far.

It is also proposing the 341MW Lotus Creek wind farm in central Queensland, rebooting that project after it was initially rejected by the federal environment minister Sussan Ley for its potential impact on threatened native animal species, including the koala.

In Tasmania, Epuron is proposing an up to 300MW wind farm in the state’s central highlands and in March of last year the developer submitted plans to build the 300MW Bowman’s Creek wind farm in the New South Wales Hunter region.