April 12, 2011
Australia

More wind farms could be on the way for Cooma

BY ELENA GUARRACINO, Cooma-Monaro Express, www.coomaexpress.com.au 12 April 2011BY ELENA GUARRACINO, Cooma-Monaro Express, www.coomaexpress.com.au 12 April 2011

There is strong interest in the Cooma-Monaro shire from several wind generation companies although no formal applications are under consideration by the state government.

Approval has already been given for the Boco Rock wind farm at Nimmitabel and similar projects are underway in several parts of Australia.

Some are causing local controversy because of concerns over health issues and noise. Cooma-Monaro Shire Council’s Manager Planning Ron Dakin said there were about six or eight wind monitoring towers in the shire at Shannons Flat and around Nimmitabel.

The wind towers are about 80 metres high [costing around $100,00 each]. “There have been no formal enquiries about wind farms in the shire.

Approval for wind farms with over 30 wind generators goes through the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. Council is consulted in the process but it is approved at the state level not the local level,” Mr Dakin said.

Regional renewable energy precincts coordinator, with the Department of Climate Change and Water, Chris Mackenzie-Davey said there was a lot of interest in the Cooma- Monaro shire from several wind generation companies, but he hadn’t seen any formal applications for wind farms in Cooma yet.

“No formal planning proposals have been submitted to date,” Mr Mackenzie-Davey said.

While the wind farm at Boco Rock has been approved and is going ahead, approval for a wind farm at Snowy Plains with 14 turbines, was given by Snowy River Shire Council in 2005. It lapsed in November last year due to the site not being windy enough and therefore not financially viable for Origin Energy.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/12/more-wind-farms-could-be-on-the-way-for-cooma/