News

Mint Renewables is refreshing plans for a wind farm to be located east of Nilgen, around 130km north of Perth in Western Australia.

Mint is investigating the feasibility of developing the up to 500 MW Nilgen Wind Farm at a location approximately 8km north-east of Lancelin.

It’s planned to install up to two temporary met masts of approximately 135 metres height in the area as part of its early feasibility studies.

Pacific Hydro had planned a 107.25 MW wind farm connected to the 132kV network constructed in two stages, 52.25 MW and then 55 MW, in the same area.

Up to 53 turbines were to be installed in total area of approximately 3454 hectares, of which around 22 hectares would be used in the final development footprint.

Approval for its planned Nilgen Wind Farm was received in late 2009, however due to a constraint in the load capacity of the transmission system the project was stalled.

Pacific Hydro eventually dropped a development option so the project reverted back to Perth-based Rytech, which continued to work on network connection approvals.

Mint is now the principal developer of the Nilgen Wind Farm, “a new and separate proposed project”.

Any kite or wind surfer worth their salt will vouch for what an excellent wind resource this area has, and it is attracting increased interest with another proposal recently put forward.

Last month Goldwind Australia submitted an approval application to install three temporary met masts and conduct site geotechnical investigations in support of development of the Breton Wind Farm near Karakin, south-east of Lancelin.

The site has a combined area of approximately 4268ha and is located approximately 100km north of the Perth CBD and 3km east of Ledge Point, which is the nearest townsite to the proposal.

Blair Fox also has two small wind farms of 5 MW each in the region.

Back to Mint Renewables, the developer is also investigating the viability of a new wind farm near Wambangalang, 30km west of Wellington in New South Wales. 

Potential routes are being assessed for transmission lines to connect the up to 500 MW Wambangalang Wind Farm to the existing grid at the Wellington Sub-station.