Victoria gives final state approval for biggest wind farm in southern hemisphere

Plans for the biggest wind farm in Australia, in Victoria's wheat belt, now rest with the federal government after clearing all state-based approvals.

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has this week signed off on the Warracknabeal Energy Park, five months after its environmental impact report was approved.

The approval was the last required by Victorian authorities, meaning it will now go to the federal environment minister for final checks.

WestWind Energy wants to build 219 turbines across 26,000 hectares of farmland just west of Warracknabeal and north of Horsham, more than 300 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.

Two 300-megawatt battery energy storage systems would also be installed.

The developer said the energy park would deliver 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy — enough to power 1.2 million homes.

That would make it the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere, narrowly overtaking the Golden Plains Wind Farm west of Geelong, which has 215 turbines and a 1.33 gigawatt capacity.

State sign-off ahead of election

The final Victorian approval for the Warracknabeal Energy Park has been made about three weeks before the Labor government enters caretaker mode ahead of the November state election.

During the Environment Effects Statement (EES) process for the wind farm, which began in 2024, 70 community responses were received.

Thirty submissions were generally positive about social impacts, job opportunities, community development, sustainability and population growth.

A similar number of submissions cited concerns about visual amenity, a strain on housing and worker accommodation and the impact on local flora and fauna.

The Warracknabeal Energy Park is expected to create close to 950 jobs during the construction phase.

Making town 'more livable'

Farmer Craig Henderson owned the land the turbines would be built on and said the wind farm was "extremely positive" for the town of Warracknabeal, which had been shrinking over recent decades.

 He said there had been "no pressure" on him to get the project over the line.

"The two stipulations I had were: it needed to be symmetrically laid out for the way we farm and commercially viable," he said.

"If accommodation is needed for the staffing to build this project, we do want to see a legacy effect, such as retirement villages and infrastructure that will be of benefit to the community for decades."

He said a diverse income for the rural area was needed to sustain the town.

"It's about making it a more livable town for services and community," Mr Henderson said.

"When it's a more livable town, it's easier to attract more skilled staff for our farms and businesses in the region.

"It may not be a silver bullet, but it's the best option we've got at the moment and the best option we've had for decades to help sustain these communities."

Gelliondale wind farm in Supreme Court

In Victoria's Gippsland region, the battle over a smaller wind farm south-west of Yarram will be heard in the Supreme Court today.

Synergy Wind wants to install 13 turbines across 1,500 hectares at Gelliondale.

If approved, it would have capacity to create enough energy to power about 37,000 homes a year.

A spokesperson for Synergy Wind said the Guardians of Nooramunga Coastal Communities group had been fighting the proposal for years.

"The Guardians group mounting this challenge has claimed repeatedly without any evidence over several years that the project will have unacceptable ecological impacts, despite repeated expert assessments of all matters of potential environmental impacts over the course of about a decade demonstrating that the project will have negligible impact on any species of concern," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"The current hearing at the Supreme Court relates to our application to expedite the hearing so that the project is not unreasonably delayed by this spurious appeal," the spokesperson said.