Australia: Yass Valley Wind Farm Approved by PAC

The Yass Valley Wind Farm, located north of the Hume Highway and 35 km west of Yass, has 79 wind turbines located along its Coppabella ridges which have an excellent wind resource and nearby grid connection. This wind farm has the potential to be a key contributor to the energy supply of NSW and will assist significantly in the reduction of the State’s emissions.

We again thank the community, particularly the involved landowners and local business and community leaders, for their ongoing support and patience, which has been rewarded by this approval.

Epuron looks forward to the Yass Valley Wind Farm progressing to construction as swiftly as possible to capture the full benefits such projects can bring to regional communities.

This approval for the 79 wind turbines of the Coppabella precinct will deliver clean renewable electricity and significant greenhouse gas reductions, although the reduction in number of turbines from 124 reduces the available benefits of the full wind farm by approximately 36%. The greenhouse gas reductions available from the project will help Australia meet its commitments made at the November 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris.

The approved 79 wind turbines of the Yass Valley Wind Farm have the potential to:

• generate 623 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean electricity per annum, enough power for 85,300 homes;
• save 2.1 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 alone (1);
• bring jobs and opportunity into the region from a ~ $400 million investment; and
• provide local community benefits via a community fund of $2,500 per wind turbine, or up to $197,000 per annum if all turbines are built.

Martin Poole, Executive Director, said: “Emissions in NSW from stationary energy will continue to be significant while its electricity generation is over 80% fuelled by coal (2). It’s time to deliver on the NSW Renewable Energy Action Plan. NSW must start to proactively capture the important jobs and investment from large scale wind energy projects which to date have mainly been secured by other States” said Mr Poole. “Planning Minster Rob Stokes famously said when he was Environment Minister: “When it comes to clean energy we (NSW) can be Australia’s answer to California” and Epuron believes he was right.  Political will and a stable investment landscape can deliver a new energy order for the State. It is now time for the NSW Government to detail exactly how this will be achieved” Mr Poole added.