Hunter Valley wind farm gets federal approval as developer sets sights on second stage

Ark Energy’s long-delayed Bowmans Creek wind farm in New South Wales (NSW) can now move forward, after the federal government approved the project six months after its state counterpart did. 

Development manager Rebecca Riggs estimates that commissioning will start around late 2027 and be complete by mid-2028.

Environment minister Tanya Plibersek approved the development on Friday for a maximum of up-to 347 megawatt (MW) of capacity, after delaying a decision at the end of May, then again at the end of June.

The wind farm, near Muswellbrook in the NSW Hunter region, was only the second wind project to gain full state approvals in NSW since early 2021.

Bowmans Creek will host 54 turbines, down from the original 56, and connect into transmission infrastructure that services the Liddell substation.

Plibersek says she has now approved 55 renewable energy projects with capacity to power 3 million homes. 

“And we have record numbers of renewables projects in the approval pipeline,” she said in a statement.

“Under Labor, we’ve already seen a 25 per cent increase in renewable energy in our grid. 

“Peter Dutton’s anti-renewables obsession ignores the fact that renewables are the cheapest form of energy. His nuclear fantasy will mean Australians pay higher taxes and higher power bills.”

As soon as the state approval came through in February, Ark Energy began working on plans for an extension of Bowmans Creek, which will require separate state and federal approvals and, if it faces as much opposition as the first stage, will be referred to the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC).

The second stage would add another 21 wind turbines and about 120 MW, bringing the total capacity to 467 MW.

Ark Energy submitted its scoping report to the NSW planning department before the end of June, and Riggs says they are working towards documents being publicly available on the NSW planning portal within the next month.

The former Epuron project has been in the queue for assessment and approval under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act since 2020. 

The final nod comes with conditions that define precisely how much woodland Ark Energy is allowed to clear, in an attempt to protect koala, Swift parrot, Regent honeyeater and Spotted-tailed Quoll habitat.

The project, in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) and halfway between Sydney and the Tamworth electorate of virulently anti-wind Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, drew heavy condemnation from locals. 

But the state’s IPC, to which the state significant project was referred last year after at least 50 people objected to its development, said the project was suitable for the site, given it’s in the Hunter-Central Coast REZ and proximity to existing electricity transmission networks and access to the regional road network.

Ark Energy,  a subsidiary of north Asia industrial giant Korea Zinc, has shown that there is a limit to how long it will wait for projects to be approved.

In April, it withdrew its proposal for a 294 MW project on the Wooroora cattle station. The company said its proposal had been in the EPBC assessment process for three years with five decision deadline extensions, a time during which it had won Queensland development approval and gone through major redesigns to reduce environmental impacts.