Wind farm developer wants taller turbines to avoid collisions with black cockatoos

Wind and solar farm developer Tilt Renewables is asking for permission to increase the size of the turbines at the proposed Waddi wind project in Western Australia, to help prevent – it says – the blades hitting Carnaby black cockatoos.

The developer wants to change the maximum turbine hub height from 112m to 139m, and the tip height from 180m to 220m. It says this will minimise the risk of black cockatoo collisions, and the amendment is now in front of the Dandaragan shire council.

The turbine model remains the same however, as Tilt retains the Vestas’ V162.60 Enventus turbine in its plans. 

The 18 turbine wind farm in the WA wheatbelt north of Perth has been in planning for more than a decade. The Dandaragan shire council approved the project in its original form as a 57 turbine venture in 2012.

Changes over time include the reduction in turbine numbers, the addition of a direct connection to the transmission network north of the Cataby substation, and now to turbine heights. 

Tilt is still slugging its way through the federal environmental approvals process, which started in 2023 when the EPBC confirmed the Waddi wind farm would be a controlled action.  

The original referral hoped to have construction underway by 2024. 

An associated solar farm was approved for development in 2016, but that is on hold until Tilt can get the wind project underway. 

Black cockatoos force change

Tilt’s EPBC referral used black cockatoo studies from 2014 and 2022, and the bird wasn’t mentioned much in shire planning documents. 

But a study over the last 12 months have been more comprehensive.

“As part of the most recent ecology surveys undertaken between August 2024 and 2025, comprising over 250 survey hours and 59 days of active acoustic recording, Carnaby’s cockatoos were occasionally observed flying at heights of between 18m and 40m during the breeding season,” a spokesperson from Tilt told Renew Economy.

“While all of the observed flights were located away from the proposed turbine locations in lower areas of the landscape, Tilt Renewables is proposing to raise the lower turbine tip swing from 18m to above 40m, to further minimise the likelihood of cockatoo collisions.”

The 2022 black cockatoo habitat assessment included a line stating that surveys found no evidence the birds bred in or near the project area. 

“However, the owner of Ejeed Pty Ltd farm indicated that Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos used to breed every year in the very old trees along a creek line on his property, but they had been displaced by the Little Corella,” the assessment said. 

“There is a recorded Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo breeding site between 8-20km north-east of the project area and an abundance of mature Marri and Wandoo trees along a creek line approximately 10km south of the project area that also provides nesting opportunities for this cockatoo.

“If Black-Cockatoos are breeding in these locations, then the Kwongan heath and Marri trees in the project area is within easy flying range as a food resource when raising chicks.”

The more recent study by another third-party ecologist also found the risk from the proposed wind farm to the Carnaby’s cockatoo is low.

*This article has been updated to include comments from a Tilt Renewables spokesperson.

“Tilt Renewables has undertaken a comprehensive programme of avian fauna surveys at the site dating back to 2010, to better understand how birds are interacting with the landscape.