Overview

• The approval requires three years of pre-construction wildlife surveys and a bird-and-bat plan that could temporarily curtail turbines during high-risk periods.
• Mandated measures include funding for orange-bellied parrot conservation, barriers to protect disease-free Tasmanian devils if a bridge is built, and a 1 km setback from wedge-tailed eagle nests.
• The project, valued at about A$3 billion and up to 900 MW, is expected to power roughly 422,000 homes and cut emissions by an estimated 3.4 million tonnes a year, with several hundred construction jobs forecast.
• ACEN must finalise detailed management plans and still secure a separate transmission approval anticipated in 2026, with generation targeted around 2030 to 2031.
• Business and state leaders welcomed the decision, while conservation groups including the Bob Brown Foundation and BirdLife Australia warned of risks to the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot and migratory shorebirds.