The $2.5 billion wind project getting ready for take-off, 23 years after farmer landholders were first approached

One of the first and oddest sights that greets a visitor heading towards the site of the proposed Winterbourne wind project near Walcha in northern NSW is of a Cessna light aircraft pitched into the ground on one of the town’s exit roads.

“I put it there to say ‘come and crash at the Walcha Caravan Park,’” jokes the park’s owner Luke Mills, adding, reassuringly, the plane’s pilot survived the runway mishap.

The park, though, may soon have new owners, if global wind giant Vestas finally succeeds in winning support for the $2.5 billion Winterbourne Wind Farm that it – and the project’s previous owners – have been planning for more than two decades. 

Vestas intends to pour about $6 million into redeveloping the cabins, van sites and related amenities into units that will house 81 people – or about a quarter of the wind farm’s expected peak construction workforce.

“We expect that the units can remain as ongoing tourist or local accommodation when wind farm construction is completed,” Doug Landfear, Winterbourne’s project director tells Renew Economy.

Securing the Walcha Council’s approval for the park’s redevelopment, though, is just one of the final hurdles Vestas is seeking to clear. It submitted a development application in July and it expects a September council meeting to consider it.

A more challenging obstacle course has been getting through the NSW planning process. Wind farms developers, in particular, can only watch on with envy at the government’s plan to give new data centre proposals a verdict within 75 days.

After completing its scoping report 2,200 days ago, Vestas submitted the first of its environment impact statements in October 2022. Then followed multiple submissions and responses to various agencies, covering conservation, heritage, transport and others.

The biodiversity development assessment report is into its sixth revision and the traffic impact assessment is up to five revisions.

The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is then expected to prepare a final assessment and it will then go to the Independent Planning Commission (IPC), prior to a public hearing being scheduled for later this year or early next year, Landfear says.  

“If the project is approved, then we will seek Commonwealth approval under the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation] Act, and will commence preparation of secondary management plans and approvals,” he said.

“We will also continue working with Transgrid and the [Australian Energy Market Operator] to secure a grid connection approval.”

If all lights are green, then the project with 118 Vestas V162 turbines, each of 6.2 megawatts and a total capacity of 731 MW, can finally proceed.

For sheep and cattle farmers, Rob Blomfield and his son Ed, the project’s start cannot come soon enough. First approached about 23 years ago, the family is confident payments for hosting some of the turbines, with extensions, could guarantee them income stretching out over six decades.

“It’s massive for drought-proofing,” Ed Blomfield said, adding “the droughts are seemingly getting more severe. The storms, floods are also more severe” as the climate changes.

The income, including from a hosting a gravel quarry on the property to support the project, “will educate all our kids without even blinking an eyelid”, his father, Rob adds. “When you’re educating your kids, things get bloody tight.”

Importantly, the Winterbourne Wind Farm does not rely on the construction of a new transmission line through the region. The state’s Opposition Coalition has vowed to scrap that line and downgrade the New England Renewable Energy Zone if elected to office next March.

NSW energy minister Penny Sharpe said projects like wind farms were “an important way for farmers to boost their income and protect their businesses against drought and other challenges”.

“The Coalition’s decision to tear up the bipartisan plan for our energy system after more than half a decade of progress is a risk to renewable investment in NSW. This includes Winterbourne Windfarm.

Vestas’ Landfear said the company is “unconcerned” that the project may be collateral damage from opposition to the power lines – and even Winterbourne – stirred by groups such as the “Voices for Walcha.”

“The fact remains that existing coal-fired generation is exiting the system and new generation is required, and renewable energy is the lowest-cost source of new generation, even taking into account the requirement for new transmission lines,” he said.

Jacki and Warwick Fletcher with Scruffy, outside their property, Cairnie, near Walcha.

Another family hoping for Winterbourne’s turbines to start turning on their property is the Fletchers, on the nearby Cairnie property. Warwick Fletcher says the government underestimates the support for renewable energy in the regions, including around Walcha.

“They are unaware of the silent majority that’s out here that’s in favour of hosting renewable energy,” he said during a visit last week.

The farm, in the family since 1863, and now about 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) in size, might only lose about 10 head of cattle because of the turbines.

“Actually, it would make the running of the place much better,” Warwick said. “We’d get access to country that we haven’t got” because of the roads that would go in.

The revenue, which can average out to about $40,000 per turbine per year, will go a long way in supporting the station’s productivity. Vestas also employs Sean Pendleton, the Fletchers’ son-in-law, as their community liaison staffer in Walcha.

“Sometimes you can’t sleep at night, thinking what you can spend it on,” Warwick laughs.

Jacki Fletcher says previous generations were more open to accepting change.

“My great grandfather was on the Tamworth council when Tamworth got electricity,” she said. “The first town in Australia to get electric street lighting.”

“They wouldn’t have had the opposition that we are having now.” she said. “We’ve got to look to the future.”

Eric Noakes, Walcha’s mayor, told Renew Economy his council had a “neutral” stance on Winterbourne, adding he had a “good relationship” with Vestas.

“Businesses in town are already benefitting from Winterbourne Wind,” Noakes said, noting the drilling and other survey work under way.

It’s up to the council and other locals to make the most of what would be significant investment for a shire that has shrunk to a population of about 3,300.

“No-one wants to see their town die,” he adds.

As for that plane outside the Walcha Caravan Park, Vestas would prefer to remove what might not be an auspicious look for the project.

Luke Mills, owner of the Walcha Caravan Park

“I don’t want it,” owner Luke Mills says, adding it’s light enough to carry away if enough hands are available. “They can do what they want with it.”

If you wish to support independent media, and accurate information, please consider making a one off donation or becoming a regular supporter of Renew Economy. Please click here. Your support is invaluable.