Epuron received revised notification of the Director-General’s Requirements (DGRs) for the Birrema project from the NSW Department of Planning in August this year. The issuing of the DGRs is in response to our submission of the projects’ Development Application and Preliminary Environmental Assessment. The DGRs set out the Departments key assessment criteria for the proposed project and will contribute to the preparation of the Environmental Assessment. There are a number of detailed studies required by the DGRs to assess potential impacts of the project including noise, visual, traffic, ecological, heritage and various planning and statutory matters.

Initial biodiversity work has been undertaken and this has led to additional studies being planned to assess the impact in these study areas. Epuron is engaging with the Office of Environment & Heritage to ensure the study plans appropriately address the potential impact topics.

We continue to capture data from the wind monitoring masts at Birrema and Carrolls Ridge and we remain confident there are good wind speeds across the projects. The complex terrain of the area requires Epuron to extend monitoring to improve understanding of the wind regime and there are plans to further expand the wind monitoring program in the new year. This will see the placement of additional wind monitoring points including use of our new portable SODAR technology.