On Friday 7 May, the NSW Land and Environment Court confirmed the Planning Approval for Epuron’s Gullen Range Wind Farm. Gullen Range Wind Farm, located approximately 25km west of Goulburn in the NSW Southern Tablelands, received Project Approval from the NSW Government on 26 June 2009.

Friday’s confirmation of the Planning Approval brings to an end over 10 months of uncertainty surrounding the project.

“We are very pleased that having considered the views of all parties the Court has confirmed the Project Approval,” Simon Davey, Project Manager at Epuron said.

“This project has made a significant step towards being able to contribute to providing secure, clean energy into the NSW electricity grid, and to meeting the Government’s targets for renewable energy.”

“We recognise that a small number of people have concerns about wind generation in the region. The diligent process followed by the Court has addressed the issues raised and I hope will have helped to relieve these concerns” he added.

“We expect that in time this project will bring jobs and investment into the region and we look forward to making that a reality,” Andrew Durran, Epuron’s Executive Director said.

The Gullen Range Wind Farm comprises 73 turbines and associated infrastructure. It will provide substantial environmental benefits by providing enough clean electricity for the average consumption of up to 63,000 homes, resulting in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of up to 511,000 CO2 (equiv), over a typical year. The project will employ up to 150 people during construction and will create up to 15 new jobs in the Goulburn area for the wind farm operation.

“Epuron would like to thank the local community for their continuing strong support of the project and look forward to working with the community during the construction and operation of this very important project,” Mr Durran said.

The involved landowners have provided great support and input to the project development and Epuron would like to thank them for their assistance.