“The gig is up:” Joyce celebrates as wind project shelved and new route to New England zone unveiled

Former Nationals leader and local MP Barnaby Joyce has celebrated the pulling of a major wind project in his electorate and predicts many others will follow, as the NSW government body continued work on transmission links to what it still hopes will be one of the biggest renewable energy zones in the state.

Renew Economy revealed on Monday that Ark Energy, a subsidiary of metals giant Korea Zinc, had decided to shelve the 340 megawatt (MW) Doughboy wind project near Armidale, because of an apparent change of mind by some of the nine landowners who had signed up for the project.

“Doughboy mountain I believe will be the first of many intermittent power sites that will realise that the gig is up,” Joyce told the Northern Daily Leader, the local newspaper.

“It [Doughboy Wind Farm] is yet another example of the pestilence which is intermittent power, wrapped up under the euphemistic narrative of renewables that is cursing so many corners of our nation.”

Joyce then went on to make some very untrue comments not challenged by the paper, including that farmers will be left with the cost of dismantling turbines, that wind project get “secret subsidies” from taxpayers and that environmental laws have been changed to allow the projects.

More than more than 80 renewable energy projects have been proposed in and around the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) since it was announced in 2019. The REZ seeks to facilitate 8,000 MW of new network capacity as the state builds the resources needed to replace the ageing coal fired power stations that will retire over the next decade.

But Joyce has led fierce resistance to the projects, comparing wind turbines to swindle machines and telling the Northern Daily Leader that seeing the machines were like finding “dog turds on your lawn” in the morning.

This week prime minister Anthony Albanese and energy minister Chris Bowen have called for Joyce to be sacked for using language at an anti-wind rally such as “load up your magazines” when calling for votes against Labor at the next election.

Joyce was completely unfazed. “After 20 years in the job, I don’t really care if they sack me as a minister. You know it’s a great honour, but I’m not going to prostitute myself on behalf of intermittent power,” he told the paper.

Amid this latest outburst, the NSW government EnergyCo has lodged the scoping report that outlines the infrastructure needed to connect the New England REZ with the rest of the grid, primarily through a new transmission line that will make its way through the Upper Hunt to the Bayswater coal fired power station near Muswellbrook.

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EnergyCo chief executive James Hay said the report marks the official start in the project’s planning process, and includes a “preferred” corridor – up to one kilometre wide – for the two new 500 kV lines that are required, along with a network of new 500 kV and 330 kV lines and four new local energy hubs within the New England region.

“Lodgement of the scoping report does not mean the corridor is finalised,” project director Doug Parris said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We will continue to work with landowners and undertake field studies to better understand constraints and opportunities for the transmission route. This is a critical step to further refine the corridor and find optimal locations for the transmission line easements, which will be up to 80 metres wide for each line.”

Following the release of the scoping report, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure will outline the requirements that must be addressed in the project’s environment impact statement, which will be finalised and placed on public exhibition in late 2025.

The first stage of the REZ, delivering 2.4 GW of network capacity, is expected to be delivered by 2031, with a second 3.6 GW stage due by 2033. Additional capacity would be unlocked by 2043, subject to separate planning approvals