Goldwind is proposing a new 460 megawatt (MW) wind farm and a bit battery project for the coastline north of Perth, but it’s chosen a tricky spot – right inside a military air training area and on the coast.
The Chinese turbine manufacturing giant and project developer is at the earliest stages of the project, which it says will see 58 turbines installed onshore from Breton bay, 116km north of the Western Australia capital.
This week it received permission to put up three 130m-high meteorological masts to assess the wind viability of the site, all of which will be inside airspace used by the RAAF Base Pearce.
The defence department is not concerned about the masts and a report by Aurecon for Goldwind suggests the impact on military fliers will be “minor” – although the northern-most mast could be moved 600m if necessary.
Goldwind wants to erect the met masts for a three year wind study, as well as monitor for bats and test the subsurface and groundwater conditions to check appropriate sites for turbines.
The company has been contacted for comment.
If a wind farm goes ahead, Breton will be the first in the wheatbelt area to lie so close to the coast.
To the north is the under-development 105 MW Nilgen wind farm, but to date all other proposals, such as Ratch Australia’s operating 214 MW Yandin wind farm and Tilt Renewables’ proposed 108 MW Waddi wind farm to the north which recently asked for taller turbines to avoid black cockatoos, are sited across the other side of the states’s main north-south transmission line.
It is, however, one of the biggest proposals close to residential areas in the region. To the east are the proposed 700MW Grevillea and 450MW Wandoo wind farms by Green Wind Renewables, and further to the north is the landowner-led Parron wind farm, which is nearly 500MW.
The met mast locations for Goldwind’s Breton wind farm. Image: Aurecon
Already the project is becoming a target for opposition.
Goldwind asked the Gingin shire council in February for permission to erect one meteorological mast, which was rejected five votes to three.
At the time councillor Lincoln Stewart raised unspecified national security and governance concerns.
“Have we sought all relevant outside advice on national security, protection, intelligence protection, information sharing, and is that something worth deferring so we can make sure we have all possible advice in relation to the met mast being installed just to keep our community safe,” he asked during the February meeting.
“We have a requirement to promote economic, environmental and social sustainability of the district and I don’t think that supporting a met mast to progress to a wind farm, and data collection for that purpose is good governance. I think it’s a step in the wrong direction.”
Stewart was campaigning for a federal senate seat with the Trumpet of Patriots Party before changing before the election to an independent, and since said he wants to found the Australian Conservative Independent Alliance to counter the national Teal movement.
Initial consultation revealed a number of fearful locals.
Just two submissions were in favour or generally commenting on the addition of met masts to the locale. Twelve were opposed.
The opponents were looking forward to a future with wind turbines in the area, raising issues around noise especially for residents of a subdivision called Seaview Park, bushfire risk, and the visual change to the coastal landscape.
One submitter argued that turbines in the area “may create accessibility barriers for neurodivergent individuals” on the grounds of visual hypersensitivity to spinning rotors and large, imposing structures creating sensory overload.
They also argued the turbines could cause soil drying and create a higher risk of the nearby Karakin Lakes marsh drying out.
But not all were as concerned. One submitter from Geraldton suggested that revegetating land elsewhere would be a good quid pro quo for letting three met masts be erected.
“I’m from Geraldton and thought I’d give you my 2c on the wind turbine thing. It’s pretty obvious that our climate is getting hotter and drier and the science is well established that it’s as a result of CO2, therefore we are going to need the odd Meteorological Mast here and there to tackle the issue, so I say send it [go for it]!” the submitter said.
“I doubt a bigass windmill is going to stop people from taking the Brand [highway], regardless of it being a scenic route or not.”
