Wind farm changes its name and cuts turbines to win over locals

afr.com:

South Korean-owned Ark Energy has scaled back its controversial Chalumbin wind farm in North Queensland and changed its name to try to win over locals and gain federal environmental approval.

After months of bad headlines over the project, which is adjacent to World Heritage-listed rainforest near Ravenshoe, Ark on Tuesday said it had made major revisions and resubmitted its plans to the federal government.

The changes include reducing the number of wind turbines from 86 to 42 and putting a one-kilometre buffer next to World Heritage areas, as well as preserving habitat for the magnificent brood frog.

An artist’s impression of wind turbines on Ark Energy’s Chalumbin wind farm in North Queensland. 

The changes cut the total value of the project from $1 billion to $700 million and reduce its total generation capacity from 602 megawatts to 294MW.

Ark Energy, a subsidiary of Korea Zinc, said it was also changing the wind farm’s name from Chalumbin to Wooroora Station to help “address misunderstandings” about the project.

“These changes reduce the impact to very low levels. We believe the benefits to the natural environment of this project far outweigh its impacts,” Ark Energy general manger development for Queensland Anthony Russo said.

“After extensive public consultation we have listened to feedback from the community, government and the traditional owners, and made changes to the project to meet expectations.

“We look forward to working with all key stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes, and we are committed to getting this project right from the outset and delivering on world’s best practice in the energy sector.”

The federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is assessing the proposal,