Proposed Development of the Gullen Range Wind Farm, Southern Tablelands New South Wales
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Proposed Development of the Gullen Range Wind Farm, Southern Tablelands New South Wales Bannister Gurrundah Kialla Pomeroy Project Application prepared by August, 2007 nghenvironmental prints all documents on sugar cane paper made from 100% bagasse (a by-product of sugar production). Document Verification Job title Proposed Gullen Range Wind Farm, Southern Tablelands of New South Wales Document Title Project Application File Location \\Server\NGH-Active\Projects\Epuron\Goulburn wind farms\EA\Project Application Revision Date Prepared by Checked by Approved by 1. 23-08-07 name Brooke Marshall name Nick Graham-Higgs name Nick Graham-Higgs Sign. Sign. Sign. name name name Sign. Sign. Sign. name name name Sign. Sign. Sign. 1/216 carp street (po box 470) bega nsw 2550 australia t 61 2 6494 7771 f 61 2 6494 7773 web: www.nghenvironmental.com.au email: [email protected] 3/6 west street pymble 1/44 fitzmaurice st (po box 5464) 57 norfolk st sydney wagga wagga dunsborough nsw 2073 australia nsw 2650 australia wa 6281 australia t 61 2 9499 4310 f 61 2 499 4311 t 61 2 6971 9696 f 61 2 6971 9693 t 08 9756 8401 mob 0405 632922 Project Application Proposed Wind Farm: Gullen Range Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................... 3 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................. 4 1.1 Purpose of this document................................................................. 4 1.2 Statutory context ............................................................................... 4 1.2.1 Planning Focus Meeting ........................................................................4 2 SITE CONTEXT .............................................................................. 6 2.1 Land use and density of settlement ................................................. 6 2.2 Landforms and vegetation ................................................................ 6 3 PROJECT JUSTIFICATION ........................................................... 8 3.1 Project viability .................................................................................. 8 3.2 Project benefits.................................................................................. 8 4 SCOPE OF PROPOSED WORKS................................................ 10 4.1 General description ..........................................................................10 4.2 Wind farm infrastructure ..................................................................10 4.2.1 Wind turbines and wind monitoring equipment................................10 4.2.2 Electrical connections .........................................................................13 4.2.3 Site access work...................................................................................14 4.2.4 Other site services ...............................................................................15 4.3 Staging of works...............................................................................15 4.3.1 Phase 1: Construction of the wind farm ............................................15 4.3.2 Phase 2: Wind farm operation.............................................................17 4.3.3 Phase 3: Wind farm decommissioning / recommissioning .............18 4.4 Rehabilitation guidelines..................................................................18 5 MODERATE TO HIGH PRIORITY ISSUES.................................. 19 5.1 Specialist reports..............................................................................20 5.1.1 Visual Assessment...............................................................................20 5.1.2 Archaeology..........................................................................................20 5.1.3 Acoustic Assessment ..........................................................................21 5.1.4 Biodiversity Assessment.....................................................................21 5.1.5 Community consultation .....................................................................22 Final i nghenvironmental Project Application Proposed Wind Farm: Gullen Range 6 LOWER PRIORITY ISSUES......................................................... 23 7 CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 25 8 AUTHORS..................................................................................... 26 APPENDIX 1 ...................................................................................... 27 Ministers opinion, as to the planning status of the proposal ...............28 APPENDIX 2 ...................................................................................... 29 Summary of Planning Focus Meeting Issues.........................................30 Figures and Tables Figures Figure 1.1 Location and indicative development envelope of the proposed Gullen Range wind farm............................................................................................................................ 5 Figure 4.1 A typical wind turbine. ..................................................................................... 11 Tables Table 5.1 Issues of moderate to high priority. ................................................................. 19 Table 6.1 Issues of lesser priority..................................................................................... 23 Final ii nghenvironmental Project Application Proposed Wind Farm: Gullen Range EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Project Application outlines the scope of the construction, operation and decommissioning/recommissioning phases of the Gullen Range wind farm proposal. It identifies and prioritises the associated potential environmental impacts. The Project Application has been prepared by nghenvironmental on behalf of Epuron Pty Ltd. The proposal would be assessed under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 which provides a consolidated assessment and approval regime for Major Projects. Following the submission of the Project Application and issuing of the Department of Planning Director-General’s requirements, a detailed Environmental Assessment Report would be prepared. The Environmental Assessment Report would draw upon the input of local and state government agencies, as directed by the Department of Planning. A Planning Focus Meeting involving government representatives has been scheduled for 15th of August 2007 to identify the key issues of involved government agencies. The Gullen Range proposal would be located on private grazing land, approximately 25 kilometres north-west of Goulburn, on the NSW Southern Tablelands. Four discrete development envelopes would be established, following the Gullen Range from north to south. The development sites carry mixed native-exotic pasture with paddock trees and fragmented woodland remnants. More extensive areas of woodland are located adjacent to the two southern most sites. The proposal would involve the construction and operation of a number of wind turbines on ridge crests and plateaus, each with three blades up to 47 metres long mounted on a tubular steel tower up to 85 metres high. The turbines are likely to have a rated output of between 1.75MW and 3MW each. Underground and overhead cabling would be used to connect the turbines. Based on the current grid connection concept, one substation would be installed, linking all turbines to the grid. Moderate to high priority issues associated with the proposal and identified by this preliminary assessment include visual, noise, archaeological, biodiversity, traffic and roads and community impacts. These issues would be investigated by way of specialist reports, liaison and for the latter, a community consultation program. Issues where impacts are expected to be readily manageable using a range of mitigation measures include land use and land value, aircraft and telecommunication (including defence), services and infrastructure, bushfire, construction noise, safety and impacts on local hydrology, soils, air and climate. These issues would be investigated primarily through desktop assessment and liaison with stakeholders and relevant agencies. Final 3 nghenvironmental Project Application Proposed Wind Farm: Gullen Range 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of this document This Project Application has been prepared on behalf of Epuron Pty Ltd. Epuron (formerly Taurus Energy), is the Australian subsidiary of a significant international group of companies which develop, finance, build and operate major projects in the field of renewable energy. Epuron has many years of experience in the development of solar photovoltaic, wind power, bioenergy and solar thermal energy projects. Epuron proposes to develop a wind farm for the purpose of electricity generation on the Gullen Range, approximately 25 kilometres north-west of Goulburn, New South Wales. The wind farm would be located on private property within and adjacent to agricultural areas (Figure 2.1). The entire proposal falls within the Upper Lachlan Local Government Area (LGA) however, the proposal would be at the eastern edge of this LGA and therefore within close proximity to the Goulburn Mulwaree LGA. This Project Application details the scope of the construction, operation and decommissioning / recommissioning phases of the proposal and undertakes a preliminary prioritisation of potential environmental impacts. Potential environmental impacts associated with the proposal have been categorised into moderate to high and lesser