The Federal Government has given a proposed wind-farm on Robbins Island in north-west Tasmania the go-ahead, subject to significant additional environmental conditions.
The approved proposal includes the construction and operation of a wind farm with up to 100 wind turbine generators, and associated infrastructure including a bridge between Robbins Island and mainland Tasmania, a wharf and four quarries.
Once completed, the wind farm is expected to generate enough energy to power 422,000 homes, supporting Australia’s renewable energy transition.
The Federal Government said the project has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.4 million tonnes per annum, equivalent to taking more than one million cars off the road each year.
Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, said that the decision takes into account a wide range of expert scientific evidence and follows a rigorous assessment process, including an initial assessment and conditioned approval by the Tasmanian Government.
The decision includes strict conditions from both the Tasmanian and Federal Governments to ensure this project will be constructed and operated in a way that safeguards nationally protected species. This includes the orange-bellied parrot, Tasmanian devil, Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle and protected migratory shorebirds.
The Federal Government has imposed comprehensive conditions, beyond those previously imposed by the Tasmanian Government. These include additional conditions to mitigate and manage risks to the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot and to enhance conservation outcomes for the species.
These conditions require:
- Comprehensive surveys for three years prior to construction, which will provide a significant amount of new information about the species, such as how it uses and flies over the island, to inform ongoing risk management during operations.
- The proponent to provide funding support for the NRE Tasmania orange-bellied parrot conservation program, to continue rebuilding its population.
- A commitment to improve conservation outcomes for the orange-bellied parrot through new measures such as research and land management activities.
Before the wind farm can begin generation, the Federal Government conditions also require the proponent to develop and implement a bird and bat management plan to evaluate, mitigate and manage the risks of turbine collision for threatened birds. Management actions may include curtailment or shutdown of all or some turbines under an adaptive management framework.
The Federal Government has also endorsed conditions set by the Tasmanian Government that require the installation of barriers to avoid Tasmanian devils from the mainland getting to the island and transmitting devil facial tumour disease (DFTD).
In addition, the Federal Government has added a condition for the proponent to secure 1164ha on Robbins Island for habitat, and to implement a DFTD prevention and monitoring program to enable any early detection.
Conditions have also been added to protect Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles nesting on the island. Building on state approval requirements, the Federal Government conditions will require no wind turbines and other infrastructure be constructed within 1km of a Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle nest – and an eagle monitoring and management plan will be implemented to provide a framework to detect, report and mitigate any impacts to the eagle population on the island.
Lastly, the state conditions contain a range of measures to protect migratory species, like the east Asian-Australasian flyway, and the Federal Government conditions endorse these requirements.
Construction is expected to commence in 2031, with the project to support up to 350 direct jobs in construction and up to 50 ongoing operational jobs.
