ACEN wins conditional enviro permit for 900-MW wind farm in Tasmania

Renewables company ACEN Australia has secured a conditional environmental permit for a project envisaging the construction of a 900-MW wind farm in Tasmania’s Robbins Island.

The clearance by the Aussie state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was issued on Thursday.

The regulator's permit was awarded under the extraordinary condition that all 122 turbines of the proposed plant are shut down for five months each year as a mitigation measure to protect the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot. The shutdown concerns the species' migration periods between March 1 and May 31 and September 15-November 15.

"The Board has determined to approve the proposal, concluding that the broader benefits of granting approval for this proposal outweigh the low level residual risk to the orange-bellied parrot," EPA said.

The Robbins Island Renewable Energy Park in Circular Head Council is planned to be installed in two phases, the first one of which will add up to 340 MW of power generation capacity. It is being proposed alongside the nearby Jim’s Plain Renewable Energy Park, which will consist of up to 200 MW of wind turbines and 40 MW of solar panels.

ACEN Australia is a unit of ACEN Corporation (PSE:ACEN), the listed energy platform of Philippine conglomerate Ayala Group.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!