Enerfin's Bulgana wind farm in Victoria gets final approval

Enerfin has announced that its 190 MW Bulgana wind farm project has received the last of its environmental and planning permits required to go ahead in western Victoria, Australia.

The company obtained clearance for the project from the Australian Federal Government under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act this week, following approval of the planning application by the local authority (Northern Grampians Shire) several months ago.

Located across an area extending from Allanvale in the southwest to Joel South in the northeast, the site will consist of up to 63 turbines at roughly 3 MW each, bringing the combined capacity to approximately 190 MW. The plant will connect to the grid through an existing transmission line near Vances Crossing Road.

The project has total investment cost of AU$460 million (US$352 million) and construction is expected to begin the second half of 2016. Once operational, the wind farm should last at least 25 years.

Brett Thomas, Enerfin's spokesman, has stated:

"The project has all its environmental and planning permits required to go ahead. We are talking to providers of wind turbines and all the other infrastructure that is needed to build the project and going through the discussions to refine the technical design of the project."

Australia has recently restored its Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme, aiming to source 20% of the country's electricity from renewables by 2020. The strategy will require a substantial build-out in the coming years.

As IPP Journal reported yesterday, the 240 MW Ararat wind farm is well under way and will be the first wind farm in southwest Victoria to benefit from the restoration of the RET.