Council’s wind of change at Moonies Hill

The Shire of Kojonup has voted to amend its Moonies Hill Energy wind turbine project.

Moonies Hill Energy had asked that the council include a new wind turbine model and modify the existing development conditions to “harmonise the wording” for consistency between approvals issued by Kojonup Shire council and the Broomehill-Tambellup Shire. The wind farm extends into both council areas.

The wind farm was approved in 2011 and a four-year extension to the planning approval process was passed in 2015.

The new wind turbine model is the Vestas V126 3.45MW, which brings the total number of turbines required for the project down from 74 to 41.

It will also see the number of wind turbines required in stage one of the project reduced from 37 to 13, with nine in the Kojonup council area.

The remaining turbines will be in the Shire of Broomehill-Tam-bellup. The new turbines will be taller, have a bigger rotor and more capacity to generate power.