Proposed Development of Crudine Ridge Wind Farm Central New South Wales Response to Submissions and Preferred Project Report November 2013 Prepared for Crudine Ridge Wind Farm Pty Ltd by Wind Prospect CWP Pty Ltd This page is intentionally left blank. CRUDINE RIDGE WIND FARM 2013 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose of the Report .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Format of the Report ............................................................................................................... 2 2. SUBMISSIONS SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Submissions Received .............................................................................................................. 3 3. AGENCY SUBMISSION RESPONSE ................................................................................................... 7 4. PUBLIC SUBMISSION RESPONSE ................................................................................................... 57 5. SUBMISSION RECONCILIATION .................................................................................................... 91 6. PREFERRED PROJECT REPORT .................................................................................................... 101 6.1 Background.......................................................................................................................... 101 6.2 Methods .............................................................................................................................. 102 6.3 Existing Situation ................................................................................................................. 102 6.4 Potential Impacts - Construction .......................................................................................... 105 6.4.1 Wind turbine component delivery and over-dimensional vehicle types ......................... 105 6.4.2 Balance of construction vehicles ................................................................................... 107 6.4.3 Over-dimensional vehicle transport routes .................................................................... 107 6.4.4 Standard heavy vehicle transport routes ....................................................................... 117 6.4.5 Effect of construction phase traffic generation .............................................................. 120 6.5 Potential Impacts - Operation and Maintenance .................................................................. 123 6.6 Potential Impacts - Decommissioning................................................................................... 123 6.7 Potential Impacts - Cumulative ............................................................................................ 123 6.8 Consultation ........................................................................................................................ 124 6.8.1 Mid-Western Regional Council ...................................................................................... 124 6.8.2 Residents in the Mudgee urban area ............................................................................. 125 6.8.3 Landowners along Aarons Pass Road ............................................................................. 129 6.8.4 Residents in the vicinity of the Project ........................................................................... 129 6.8.5 Roads and Maritime Services ........................................................................................ 130 6.8.6 Public Exhibition............................................................................................................ 130 6.9 Management and Mitigation ............................................................................................... 131 6.9.1 CEMP / Traffic Management ......................................................................................... 131 6.9.2 Construction ................................................................................................................. 131 Page i RESPONSE TO SUBMISSIONS AND PREFERRED PROJECT REPORT 2013 6.9.3 Operation and Maintenance ......................................................................................... 133 6.9.4 Decommissioning .......................................................................................................... 133 6.10 Modified Internal Road Layout ........................................................................................... 133 6.11 Revised Offset Calculations ................................................................................................ 133 6.12 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 134 7. REVISED STATEMENT OF COMMITMENTS .................................................................................. 137 8. ACRONYMS................................................................................................................................ 159 9. REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 161 List of Figures Figure 1 Number of public submission issues by EA Chapter .............................................................. 5 Figure 2 Summary of public submissions by location.......................................................................... 6 Figure 3 Blockage of sunlight for various distances for a typical 2 MW wind turbine blade (Taken from the Draft National Wind Farm Guidelines (EPHC 2010)) ........................................................... 66 Figure 6.1 Proposed over-dimensional vehicle route options for Project construction.....................108 Figure 6.3 Proposed over-dimensional vehicle route options, Mudgee.............................................109 Figure 6.4 Proposed standard heavy vehicle route options for Project construction........................118 Figure 6.5 Mudgee Guardian poll regarding proposed transport routes for the Project .................. 129 Page ii CRUDINE RIDGE WIND FARM 2013 List of Tables Table 1 Submissions received for the Project ..................................................................................... 3 Table 2 Proximity of submission suburbs to the Project ..................................................................... 3 Table 3 Agency submission comments by EA Chapter ........................................................................ 4 Table 4 Outline of the MWRC DCP 2013, and where guidelines are addressed within the Project EA . 9 Table 5 Inaudible Works Protocol for concrete placing, in-ground electrical works, or wind turbine installation ...................................................................................................................................... 15 Table 6 Summary of Aboriginal object locales recorded ................................................................... 26 Table 7 Relevant Austroad Standards for the relevant roads ............................................................ 34 Table 8 Comparison of construction workforce parameters ............................................................. 50 Table 9 Comparison between VPAs and proposed Project Community Fund .................................... 53 Table 10 Mapping of buildings within 5 km of the Project (refer to Appendix 6, Figure A) ................ 58 Table 11 Comments by Submission (*Denotes form letter) .............................................................. 91 Table 12 Existing traffic volumes on the rural and urban road network around the Project site ..... 104 Table 13 Typical dimension and weight ranges of wind turbine blades .......................................... 106 Table 14 Typical dimension and weight ranges of wind turbine components ................................. 106 Table 15 MWRC feedback and Proponent responses regarding Route Option 1 through Mudgee .. 110 Table 16 MWRC feedback and Proponent responses regarding Route Option 2 through Mudgee .. 112 Table 17 Consultation with landowners on Aarons Pass Road ........................................................ 115 Table 18 Estimated Project related traffic generation .................................................................... 121 Table 19 Rural road network capacity - existing and potential LoS ................................................. 122 Table 20 Urban road network capacity - Project related traffic impacts ......................................... 122 Table 21 MWRC’s form letter to residents along proposed transport routes - feedback and responses ...................................................................................................................................................... 126 Table 22 Acronyms used throughout the Report ............................................................................ 159 Page iii RESPONSE TO SUBMISSIONS AND PREFERRED PROJECT REPORT 2013 Volume 1 – Appendices Appendix 1 Noise Assessment - Supplementary Analysis Appendix 2 Noise Assessment - Response to Submissions Appendix 3 Preferred Project Report – Transport Assessment Appendix 4 Route Survey and Upgrade Assessment Appendix