Australian renewable energy developer Epuron is pushing forward with a proposed 570MW wind farm in north Queensland, and will be holding a meeting with the local community this week to outline its plans.
The Chalumbin wind farm would be located about 10kms south of Ravenshoe, adjacent to the Tully Falls national park and located within the planned Northern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone, one of several proposed to help the state reach its 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.
Epuron says the region has some of the best wind resources in the country, and the site is located close to a power line with available capacity, transport, and distant from townships. It proposes 95 turbines at the site, suggesting units with capacity of 6.5MW each.
The meeting with local community will occur on Thursday, and Epuron says preparing a development application for the wind site, it is completing onsite technical studies for the environmental assessment, and it is finalising an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Jirrbal People, as well as grid connection studies with Powerlink.
The project last month was determined to be a ‘controlled action’ under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), meaning its impact and ability to deliver a “net positive outcome” for biodiversity over the longer term will be assessed under the act.
The region is home to the 12MW Windy Hill wind farm which was the first in Queensland when it was built in 2000, and for nearly 20 years was the only operating wind farm in the state.
It has since been joined by the 453MW Coopers Gap wind farm further south and the nearby 180MW Mt Emerald wind farm (pictured above). Another project, the 157MW Kaban wind farm, is being built by Neoen after landing a long term contract with the state government owned CleanCo.
Epuron is working on nearly a dozen different wind projects, including the St Patricks Plains project in the central highlands of Tasmania, the Western Plains project in north east Tasmania and the Bowmans Creek Wind Farm development in the Hunter Valley of NSW.
See Large Scale Wind Farm Map of Australia.
