Long-distance objectors and whale worries send another two wind farms into state planning purgatory

Another two of the projects selected for development in the New South Wales South West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) have been sent to the state’s planning arbiter, mostly by long-distance objectors.

The NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) is now reassessing three out the four projects that won rights to the South West REZ, all of which have been sent there by objections from people and organisations who live very far away.

Newly arrived in the IPC system is Spark Renewables’ 1.2 gigawatt (GW) Dinawan wind project – the other part of the massive proposal, the 800 megawatt (MW) solar complex with a 356 MW /1,574 megawatt hour (MWh) battery, were already sent to the planning sin bin earlier this year.

And BayWa RE’s 815 MW Bullawah wind project and 359 MW, 718 MWh battery.

Dinawan managed to attract 86 objections out of 89 public submissions, while Bullawah got 68 objections of 84 submissions. 

In NSW, any planning project with 50 or more objections must go to the Independent Planning Commission for a second look, even if those quibbles are from people outside the state or the country. 

Comparatively speaking, the South-West REZ has not been a big source of local discontent.

There aren’t as many people living there as in other REZs, and the Hay council, the town at the nexus of the zone, proactively “set the rules of engagement” with developers, which allowed locals to decide on what they were comfortable with.

As a result, submissions made during the planning development application process have been less about local concerns and more about generalised opposition to all things wind energy. 

Bullawah received no local submissions – that is from people living within 5km of the project – and 29 from people living between 5km and 100km away, and another 39 from even further, including five from Queensland and five from Victoria. 

For the Dinawan wind project, seven of the 89 public submissions were from people living within 5km of the project, 16 were regional, and 64 were from more than 100km away, according to the percentage breakdown in the submission report.

Concerns ranged from the impact on whale migration from the projects, and fears from people living very far from the Hay region about community division.

“It is acknowledged that potential impacts on whale migratory patterns are an important consideration for offshore wind farms,” the Dinawan submission report noted.

“However, it is important to clarify that this is an onshore wind farm project located more than 350 km from the ocean.”

More realistic concerns included the impact of multiple projects being built at the same time on traffic and roads, how bushfires will be managed, and how decommissioning will be handled. 

A possibly more complicated issue is how to fit the total proposed generation of the projects into the small capacity awarded in the REZ rights. 

NSW awarded 1.01 GW of capacity to the whole Dinawan wind, solar and battery project, and 283 MW to the Bullawah wind project, heavily pared back because the REZ doesn’t have enough connection capacity. 

Only four projects won grid access rights in the REZ, with just 3.56 GW of capacity allocated.

The other two allocations were 1.45 GW going to the Yanco Delta wind project owned by Origin Energy and 832 MW to the Pottinger wind and battery project owned by AGL and Someva Renewable.

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