State planning authorities in Victoria, Australia, have approved the Warracknabeal Energy Park, a wind project billed as the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny granted the approval this week, according to a report by ABC News. The decision clears the project to move to the federal level, where the environment minister is to conduct further scrutiny.
WestWind Energy plans to build 219 turbines at the site. The company also intends to install two 300-megawatt battery energy storage systems to work alongside the wind generation. Such systems store electricity when output is high and release it when generation falls. The development would cover 26,000 hectares of farmland in Victoria's wheat belt.
The state approval came five months after the project cleared its environmental impact report. With that assessment complete, the development now advances to the federal environment minister for the final checks described in the report. No timeline for a federal decision was given.
The federal review is the remaining regulatory step before construction could begin, based on the sequence outlined in the report. Its outcome will determine whether WestWind Energy can proceed with the 219-turbine development as planned. Until a decision is handed down, the project remains in the assessment phase.
For the industry, the approval illustrates the scale of wind development now being pursued in Victoria. It also highlights the two-stage path large projects follow, moving from state planning sign-off to federal environmental review. Engineers and developers will be watching how the federal assessment unfolds for a project of this size.
Source: Oilprice
