First layout and view released of forest-based wind farm located near Snowy

Tumut residents have been presented with an initial turbine layout for the proposed Bondo wind project and artist impressions of what the turbines located in the state softwood forests in the hills near their town might look like.

The French developer Neoen is proposing to build a 154 turbine wind farm in the New South Wales (NSW) state forests in Bondo, about 20kms east of Tumut, partly within the Snowy Valley council areas, but hasn’t yet finalised the final number.

With communities becoming hypersensitive about the visual impact of renewable energy generation on their doorsteps, Neoen has decided to release what the proposed 154 turbines might look like before confirming the megawatt capacity of the project.

Locals can now see renderings of the view from Tumut Lookout at 9 am and 3 pm, suggesting the turbines will blend into the landscape under different light conditions.

Initial layout of the Bondo wind farm turbines, which Neoen says is still to be finalised after community consultation and further studies.

In May last year, the New South Wales (NSW) Forestry Corp gave permits to investigate the possibility of building wind farms around four state forests – three in the central west near Lithgow and Bathurst and one in the south of the state.

The other project authorisations around Orange, Black Springs and Sunny Corner went to Iberdrola Australia, TagEnergy and a joint venture between Mainstream Renewables Power and Someva Renewables.

In the south Neoen has embarked on bird and bat studies and a native vegetation survey, and last year expected to install four meteorological masts by early 2025. 

Forestry Corporation expects the journey from investigation, consultation, planning to approval will take between three and six years – and only then will construction start for a 2030s start date.

Neoen is aiming to submit a scoping report to the NSW government in May and a full development application in 2026.

In 2021, the NSW parliament changed the law to allow renewable energy projects in softwood plantations.

Bondo is one of a handful of wind farms in Australia that are being proposed for forested areas. 

The 205MW Delburn wind farm in the Strzelecki Ranges to the south of Victoria’s Latrobe Valley was particularly contentious, with fire risks within the forest cited as one of the concerns of local residents. 

Another Neoen proposal, the $1.2 billion Kentbruck Green Power Hub in plantations between Nelson and Portland in western Victorian is also drawing fire, this time with residents nervous about the size of the 100 turbines required to get above tree tops.

Then there is the 1.2GW Forest Wind project being developed by Tilt Renewables and CleanSight in Australia’s largest exotic pine plantation between Gympie and Maryborough, in Queensland. 

The Bondo wind farm is to the south of Squadron Energy’s proposed 400 megawatt (MW) Jeremiah wind farm and 150MW/150MW battery energy storage system (BESS).