Pacific Hydro to seek permit for new wind farm in SA

Pacific Hydro will pursue a planning permit for a new wind farm in Adelaide's mid-north following strong support from local communities in Georgetown, Gladstone and Gulnare.

"We received an overwhelmingly positive response to the proposal for this new development which has been really encouraging", said Pacific Hydro communications manager, Emily Wood.

The proposed wind farm, which will be called Carmodies Hill Wind Farm following suggestions from the local communities, is situated east of Georgetown and runs along 18km of ridgeline, south from the Bundaleer Forest to Mt Misery.

Over 130 people from the local area attended the three information sessions run by Pacific Hydro to put their views forward and provide comment on the project.

The feedback provided to Pacific Hydro during these sessions included local historical information and locally important sites, information about possible access tracks onto the wind farm site, and a range of views about the proposed wind farm.

This information has been compiled and together with other information including environmental, landscape, geotechnical and wind studies, will assist in the ongoing planning of the project.

"It was great to get feedback from all the local communities about the proposal as well as suggestions for naming the wind farm", said Ms Wood. "As each community wanted the wind farm to be named after their town we selected the next most popular suggestion, Carmodies Hill."

The Carmodies Hill Wind Farm development proposes a maximum of 70 wind generators with a total capacity of 175MW. At this size, the project will provide the equivalent energy needs of around 70,000 homes, abating approximately 540,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas each year.

Once the Northern Areas Council has received the application, it will be put on public display for the community to review and comment on. Pacific Hydro will continue to work with members of the community as the project progresses.