The Tasmanian Government has welcomed the Central Highlands Council’s decision to approve the St Patricks Plains Wind Farm development.
Minister for Energy and Renewables, Nick Duigan said Ark Energy’s 47 turbine project in the Central Highlands will have a generation capacity of up to 300MW.
“It is good to see progress being made on projects like this. It’s great news and is another big step in growing Tasmanian’s renewable energy resource,” Minister Duigan said.
“This project will also make a significant contribution to achieving our Renewable Energy Target, to double energy production by 2040.
“Our State needs new renewable generation to support our growing economy, including expanding existing, and new industries.”
Any renewable energy development is subject to rigorous and independent development, environmental and cultural heritage assessments across the three tiers of Government, with public consultation a critically important part of that process, said the Minister.
“It’s this Government’s expectation that developer’s engage with stakeholders and communities to work proactively with them in developing solutions that minimise any potential impact of developments,” he said.
“It’s good to see this has happened.”
Minister Duigan has now called on the Federal Labor Government to give the project a timely decision under the EPBC Act.
“Our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future focuses on increasing our renewable energy generation to help ensure Tasmania continues to have some of the lowest power prices in the nation,” he said.
