![The Willatook Wind Farm project might be abandoned after millions of dollars and 10 years of planning. The Willatook Wind Farm project might be abandoned after millions of dollars and 10 years of planning.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/134792293/3ab4646f-64b6-4120-8c07-3a585ab756e0.jpg/r40_0_1160_629_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
An assessment of the Willatook Wind Farm by Victorian Planning Minister Sonia Kilkenny has proposed several crippling impositions that will kill the project if they are formalised.
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The document calls for much wider "buffer zones" around each of the turbines on the wind farm and strict conditions on the construction phase that would ban work for five months of the year.
The increased buffer zones would reduce the number of turbines in the project from 59 to 18, while the construction ban would nearly double the building phase of the project for developer Wind Prospect.
Wind Prospect managing director Ben Purcell said the proposed rules made the project "unviable" and it couldn't proceed if they were adopted.
The proposed wind farm 20 km north of Port Fairy has been in the planning process for a decade and since 2018 it has gone through a stringent environmental effects process involving dozens of meetings with government and stakeholders. After a four-year process Wind Prospect finalised its environmental effects statement (EES) in mid-2022, when it was put on exhibition for final feedback.
In August 2022 the Planning Minister set up an inquiry and planning panel to assess the project and seek further submissions from the public and other agencies. The Minister's assessment was strongly influenced by the panel's report, which raised ecological concerns that led to the buffer and construction rules.
The concerns centred on two native animals, the brolga and the southern bent-wing bat, both of which are endangered in the area.
"I support the (panel's) findings that the project, as proposed in the EES has the potential for unacceptable residual impacts on listed threatened species, specifically Brolga and Southern Bent-wing Bat, as it does not sufficiently buffer wetlands and other habitat in the project area," the Minister said.
"Therefore, I support the (panel's) recommendations for modifying the project and strengthening Wind Prospect's proposed avoidance and management measures, to reduce the project's potential environmental effects to an acceptable level."
The Minster said the project's benefits had to be balanced against the potential damage to biodiversity.
"I acknowledge the revised buffers will substantially reduce the number of turbines within the proposed wind farm footprint and that these modifications may affect the project's energy generation," she said.
The Minister's assessment has gone to "statutory decision makers" within the department for further assessment. They will come up with a final recommendation that will go back to the Minister for approval.
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