October 20, 2011
Australia

Power deal won’t stop wind farm

The North West Star, www.northweststar.com.au 20 October 2011

The renewable energy company behind Hughenden’s proposed 750 megawatt Kennedy Wind Farm is pressing ahead with native title agreements despite the collapse of the CopperString project.

Windlab chief operating officer Luke Osborne said the company would continue to gain approvals for the project.

“We are certainly pushing ahead with various aspects including land tenure,” he said.

Mr Osborne said Windlab was investigating alternatives to the CopperString project which was to connect Mount Isa to the national grid via a 1000-kilometre transmission line.

Renewable energy companies situated along the line could then sell electricity to the national electricity market.

“There’s an alternative version being mooted at the moment,” Mr Osborne said.

The slimmed down project would see a shorter line of reduced capacity running from Townsville to Cloncurry.

Mr Osborne said he was confident Mount Isa would one day join the national grid.

“There are very good reasons to connect Mount Isa and not just for the renewable potential but for a host of other reasons as well,” he said.

There is already an existing transmission line which runs as far as Hughenden but it does not have the capacity to absorb the enormous energy output of the Kennedy Wind Farm and other renewable projects.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/20/power-deal-wont-stop-wind-farm/