White Rock Wind Farm

The White Rock Wind Farm is located in the New England Tablelands region of New South Wales.  It is located approximately 24 kilometres west of Glen Innes and 47km east of Inverell, within the Local Government Areas (LGA) of Glen Innes Severn and Inverell. It is classified as State Significant Development and has been assessed and approved under the now repealed Part3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 for which the Minister for Planning is the consent authority.  Application No. 10_0160 was approved by the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure 10 July 2012. For full information on this application (Project Application No. 10_0160 – White Rock Wind Farm), see the Department of Planning and Infrastructures website.

White Rock includes the construction and operation of a wind farm with up to 119 turbines and is being constructed in stages.

Stage one of the project is now operational and consists of 70 turbines, producing 175 MW of clean renewable electricity which is enough to power approximately 105,000 NSW homes annually.

Stage two of the project will consist of up to 48 turbines, producing up to 202 MW of clean renewable electricity.

To take account for emerging turbine technologies and improved efficiencies in site design, a modification application was submitted by Goldwind Australia for White Rock Wind Farm Pty Ltd to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (NSW DPIE) for Stage Two of the project.

The modified design has been developed in parallel with further environmental assessments to minimise any increase in environmental impacts. The modification increases the Stage Two wind turbine tip height to 200m, improves the turbine layout and proposed other minor modifications to the design.

The modification was approved by the Independent Planning Commission on 13th December 2019. Construction of Stage Two is expected to start late 2020/early 2021.

Associated infrastructure includes access tracks, local road infrastructure upgrades, electrical connections between the turbines (both underground cable and aboveground power lines), temporary concrete batching plant, on-site control buildings and equipment storage facilities, an on-site substation and transmission connection from the substation to the TransGrid 132 kV transmission line to the north of the site, and permanent monitoring masts.

Modification Applications

To enable optimum development, efficient operation and competitively priced power to be provided into the National Electricity Market, six modifications to the Development Approval have been submitted to the NSW DPIE.

When necessary, modified design proposals have been developed in parallel with further environmental assessments to minimise any increase in environmental impacts.

The associated documents relating to the modification applications can be found on the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (Major Project Register). (http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=3963)

Community Consultation Committee

A White Rock Wind Farm Community Consultation Committee is in operation for the duration of the project. The purpose of the Community Consultative Committee (CCC) is to provide a forum for open discussion between representatives of White Rock Wind Farm, the community, local councils and other stakeholders. Links to the minutes from the committee meetings can be found at https://whiterockwindfarm.com/community/community-consultative-committee/.

NEWS

Previous month meeting minutes can be found by visiting the White Rock Wind Farm web page.

Community Fund

The aim of the White Rock Wind Farm Community Fund is to financially support initiatives and projects that enrich and enhance the local community. Funding applications will be considered from all sectors, including but not limited to community development, the arts, education and training (including scholarships through organisations), health and wellbeing, sport, economic development, environment and sustainability.

The annual allocation of funding is a voluntary contribution from White Rock Wind Farm based on an initial $2,500 per installed wind turbine commencing in the first year of operations. The Fund increases each year by 2.5 % for the lifetime of the wind farm.

The guidelines on how the fund operates and previous successful applicants are available from https://whiterockwindfarm.com/community/community-fund/

Glen Innes Severn Council is managing the application process on behalf of White Rock Wind Farm.  The relevant application forms and guidelines are available on Glen Innes Severn Council website under Public Notices on the home page or by contacting Council on 02 6730 2300.

Comments from Goldwind Australia

Goldwind Australia purchased the White Rock Wind Farm (WRWF) project from Epuron in October 2014.

Goldwind is an international wind power company specialising in high quality and technically advanced equipment. Goldwind manufactures and installs wind turbines. Goldwind was established in 2009 and in addition to White Rock currently has two operating wind farms in Australia as well as offices in Melbourne and Sydney.

The project approval allows for staging of construction. 70 turbines were built in the first stage along with related civil and electrical infrastructure. The turbine model planned to be installed is the Goldwind 121 which has a 90m hub height and a 150m tip height.

White Rock Wind Farm is committed to the New England Tablelands community and to facilitating the long term integration of the project into the community. The community engagement process is intended to inform decisions, build capacity of interested stakeholders and strengthen relationships within the local community. We aim to create and maintain good relationships with near neighbours of the project. The project team can be contacted at any time and are happy to talk through details of the project at any stage. Contact details are available on the White Rock Wind Farm website.