Waubra North Wind Farm proposal announced

ACCIONA Energy has announced it is considering a new wind farm development in an area 8 km north east of Waubra and 9 km west of Clunes near the township of Evansford, bordering the Hepburn and Pyrenees Shires.

The proposed facility would complement the existing Waubra Wind Farm which is in the final stages of construction.

The announcement followed a series of briefing meetings by the company with local representatives including the councils, government representatives and the Waubra Wind Farm Community Reference Group.

ACCIONA Energy Managing Director, Brett Thomas, said preliminary investigations indicate the proposed Waubra North site has a quality wind resource and would be investigated further through a systematic process involving a series of technical studies as well as ongoing community consultation.

“We will now proceed to review the area of interest, identify possible constraints and model the wind farm layout design,” Thomas said.

Independent consultants would also be engaged throughout 2009 to report on a range of areas, including: flora and fauna; cultural heritage; traffic and transport; geology and hydrology; landscape and visual; socioeconomic; noise; and electromagnetic interference.

“We are at the early stages of developing this project,” Thomas said, “and the data collected from the consultant studies together with community feedback will inform the final proposal for the Waubra North Wind Farm.”

For more information, visit www.waubrawindfarm.com.au.