Robertstown
Robertstown wind farm is a wholly-owned project of Roaring 40s Renewable Energy Pty Ltd.
Location
The proposed Robertstown wind farm is in South Australia, approximately 120 km north of Adelaide. The site is located on a ridgeline to the west of the town of Robertstown, and is in close proximity to two other Roaring 40s projects – Waterloo and Stony Gap Wind Farms.
The site is considered to be particularly well suited to wind farming because, amongst other things:
• Data gathered in the area suggests that the wind resource is world-class
• Connection and transportation options are available
• The site is owned by supportive landowners who are keen to host turbines on their properties
• The area is sparsely populated
• Preliminary studies indicate that that net environmental outcome will be positive
• Preliminary studies indicate that a suitably designed wind farm would satisfy sound and visual amenity regulations
Project scope
Robertstown Wind Farm is likely to comprise over 30 turbines, with a maximum total generating capacity of up to 96MW.
The energy produced would equate to the power requirements of 51,000 homes, and would avoid the production of 218,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
If the project goes ahead, the total investment would be more than $100 million.
Planning approval and environmental assessment
Due to favourable preliminary findings, the decision was made to seek planning approval from the relevant government agencies.
The approval process is extensive and involves community consultation and environmental, technical and social studies. Studies currently underway include that of:
• Flora and Fauna
• Landscape and Visual
• Noise
• Cultural Heritage
• Communications
• Traffic and Transport
Environmental Focus
Roaring 40s is committed to the proactive development of a low environmental impact wind farm. At every project, Roaring 40s intent is to not only generate clean, renewable energy, but also to establish construction and operational measures that result in a net positive effect on the environment.
Transmission Lines
Roaring 40s is involved in planning electricity transmission lines for the Robertstown Wind Farm. Transmission Line Easements are required for the purposes of constructing, maintaining and or upgrading electricity infrastructure used to connect wind farms to the National Electricity Market.
Typically, our wind farms are sited in proximity to existing electricity transmission and or distribution lines, or nearby sub-stations (the electricity network). Before the wind farms can enter the construction phase, a proposed route for connecting the wind farm to the electricity network needs to be secured. This process involves the negotiation of Easements on both private and public lands.
In conjunction with the landowner negotiations process, a number of studies are carried out to inform route options. These studies consider a range of factors including landscape, land use, native habitat, and social and technical engineering matters.
Transmission lines and private land owners.
Developing transmission lines and negotiating easements for transmission lines on private land responsibly, involves a number of key steps. Above all, this involves discussions with private landowners at the outset.
All discussions will address a range of issues to achieve a fair agreement that satisfies both the private landowner and Roaring 40s. These would include for example, discussions around minimising impact on farm operations, and maintaining appropriate buffer distances between the proposed electricity infrastructure and key amenity areas such as households. Roaring 40s appreciates that circumstances and issues will vary from property to property. Accordingly Roaring 40s invests considerable resources into the negotiations process to consider and resolve various issues and reach final agreement through fair negotiation and agreement. Compulsorily acquiring land is not the preferred approach of Roaring 40s in their land dealings.
If you wish to have more information on Roaring 40s activities on planning transmission lines for the Robertstown Wind Farm please download the newsletter below.
Robertstown & stony gap transmission lines newsletter feb10.
Community Meeting July 2010
The Robertstown & District Community Management Committee held a public meeting on the Robertstown Wind FArm project on 26th July 2010.
At the meeting four people were asked to provide an outlines of issues and processes related to the project, these were:
- Ally Fricker : local resident;
- Andy Thomas : resident near the Hallet Wind Farm;
- Michael Hogan : Project Director Roaring 40s; and
- John Brak : CEO Regional Council of Goyder.
The speakers at the meeting were asked questions from people attending, ranging from noise and landscape issues to the process for developing the project.
A copy of the project update distributed at the meeting is available below.
RT community Meeting Update.pdf
Community Benefits
Substantial employment will be generated during the short to medium term during the year-long construction phase, which will have positive economic flow-on benefits to the local economy.
Roaring 40s aims to provide renewable energy solutions through processes that are transparent, environmentally responsible and beneficial to the community.
Click on the PDF below to access the latest newsletter
Contact us
If you have any queries, concerns or feedback please contact:
The Consultation Manager
Robertstown Wind Farm
Level 25, 500 Collins St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Freecall: 1800 330 955
Email: infoaustralia@roaring40s.com