The Winterbourne Wind project, with a planned 118 x 6.2MW Turbines, has a footprint that reaches within 6km of the Walcha township, 2.5km from the Apsley Falls lookout point, and 3.5km from the Steep Drop Falls Trail. It is adjacent to the World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforests Area, incorporating the Wild Rivers National Park.​

Despite being on the planning table for many years, the wider community has not been made aware of the shape and scale of this project until recent community discussions and a forum, where the developer, Vestas, declined to attend. This lack of consultation and engagement has been disappointing, and falls short of expectations a community should have of a developer.

Timeline (thus far)

DEC 2025

After ?? extentions, Winterbourne submitted their ammended final EIS to the Department of Planning.

OCT 2024

Winterbourne Wind have finally dropped their Amendment Report, as part of the Response to Submissions, after over 18 months and 5 extensions.

We have gone through the (2800+ paged) documentation, and we have put together a summary of concerns

Click here for more information

MAY 2024

After 3 extensions, Vestas response to submissions expected end of June 2024

We are pushing hard for an opportunity to respond, given the significant changes to the project - traffic route etc.​

It will be really important for the community to have an input if we get this opportunity.

Traffic Route for OSOM Vehicles​

ROUTE CHANGE ...

No longer using Oxley Highway (State road) for OSOM.

Now using … Thunderbolts Road (Local council road) from Uralla to Walcha, past Showground, then East.

• 17 Oversize/Over mass vehicles per turbine, expecting over 2000 movements, plus returns, over 10 months

• Normal project trucks and traffic is additional and will remain on Oxley Highway.

Changes to turbine locations, some removed, new ones in.

Changes have been made for various reasons:

• Towers were too close to National Park. Less than the height of the tower in one case. 3 have been removed in this area.

• Towers were too close to a public place of interest, eg, Apsley Falls lookout. 8 have been removed from this area

• Land host requests to remove turbines from their property.​

• Turbines located too close to Walcha township have been removed.​

• Other turbines removed for various reasons. ​

• In all, 29 have been removed, and 28 have been introduced to take their place. ​

• There is now a total of 118 Turbines, from the original 119.​

Resources – Quarry

A new quarry has been sited on Bark Hut, with Vestas expecting to extract One Million Tonnes of material

Vestas are claiming to be able to extract, from the single quarry:

• Road building surfacing gravel

• Graded Road Base

• Coarse Rubble

• Manufactured Sand

• Aggregate suitable for concrete batching

Resources – Water

Vestas are drilling test bores to locate water on the project site.

With a project appetite of 200ML (conservative estimate), this equates to around 30 times the average annual consumption of a livestock property in Walcha.

We are concerned about the impact on neighbouring water resources.

Community Benefit Fund

(VPA or Voluntary Planning Agreement)

This has not yet been signed off by both parties, but Vestas has described this as $1mill at start date, then $750 annually.

We are concerned about the security of this arrangement, and would prefer to see an up-front payment, as per recently approved projects, (Yanco Delta etc.)

As a comment, we still concerned about the concept of a bucket of money, being lobbied for by community groups, changing the culture of a capable and independent community, with self-sufficient sporting and community groups. Is it a gift, or a curse?

Why is an upfront sum so important?

Security of payment. It is forthcoming immediately and can be used to fund projects, with confidence.

For example, income from a term deposit could be used to fund a number of permanent staff at Riverview if the Council take over this facility.

This cannot be done with certainty, with payments that are unsecured from a developer that is 3rd or 4th in line in the ownership of the project.