The federal government has greenlit the proposed Palmer Wind Farm in South Australia, which will generate enough energy to power 144,000 homes.
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The 288MW Palmer Wind Farm will be located between the townships of Palmer and Tungkillo and includes the installation of 40 wind turbines which will connect to South Australia’s electricity network.
The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 212,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, which is equivalent to taking more than 65,000 cars off the road each year.
“The site is already cleared land and used for grazing. The project demonstrates how good site selection can lead to faster environmental approvals,” the government said in a statement.
“Projects need to be placed in the right areas and designed so that their environmental impacts are minimised— as is the case with this wind farm.”
Developer Tilt Renewables said on its website that the wind farm’s design had been changed following community consultation.
“We [changed the] design to reduce the maximum number of turbines from 103 to 40. These fewer, larger turbines could generate a similar level of clean renewable energy while allowing bigger setbacks from existing dwellings and townships.
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“Reducing the number of turbines would also shrink the project area by more than 5,000ha and significantly reduce the potential impacts of the approved Palmer Wind Farm.”
