THE Hay Plains is proving to be an important and emerging region for growth in the Australia’s wind farm industry, with the Wilan Energy Park (WEP) the most recent in a series of proposed projects for the area.
WEP, which is immediately north of the Sturt Highway in the vicinity of the Willowvale Rest Area, would contribute up to 800MW of wind energy generation if it went ahead.
It comprises three landholdings across 23,000ha of pastoral grazing land and is located 25km east of Balranald, 40km north of Moulamein and 55km west of Hay.
Australian wind energy company Kilara Energy is behind the proposed project located within the Southwest Renewable Energy Zone.
Kilara’s chief executive, Andrew Thomson, said that it is becoming clear that the region has an emerging and important role to play in Australia’s energy transition.
“We see a really significant opportunity for economic diversification emerging for communities across this region,” he said. ”Projects such as this create local job opportunities during construction but importantly, they also represent an ongoing opportunity for employment and regional business development as projects move into operation.
“It will be important that the industry engages with all stakeholders in a transparent and effective way. Kilara’s priority is to build a clear understanding through our engagement activities of local views and needs.
“We aim to ensure that the project we design is well informed by local considerations.”
The community engagement process is at an early stage of the project with Kilara’s project team working towards submission of a scoping report to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment in the coming months.
This will be a formative step in the planning process for the project. In addition to ongoing consultation activities, detailed site assessments will follow including flora and fauna, cultural heritage, landscape and visual, traffic and transportation and noise assessments amongst others. Kilara is aiming to seek development approval during 2024.
For more information on the project, visit www.wilanenergypark.com.au
