Moonies Hill Energy has been given conditional approval for the Flat Rocks Wind Farm to be built near Kojonup. If fully developed the wind farm will provide enough energy to power around 90 000 homes.

The project has been given the green light by The Great Southern Joint Development Assessment Panel for the Broomehill section of the wind farm. Construction was expected in 2012/13 but is now expected to begin late 2014 or early 2015.

The total project will cover six farms and consume only 1% of productive farm land – the landowners will be financial beneficiaries of the project. The 150MW system, 25kms South East of Kojonup, will consist of 74 wind turbines sitting up-top 84m towers. In total, it will produce around 562 000GWhrs of electricity annually and off set 451 000 tonnes of carbon each year.

Moonies Hill Energy Director Sarah Rankin is delighted with the decision and says they have not overcome all the hurdles yet but this is a great start. “We have got development approval, so that’s fantastic – it means we’re allowed to build it,” Dr Rankin said. “This is going to be a great project for the region. There are a lot of benefits to come. This is going to be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the Great Southern and we may never see anything like it again.”

The grid connection is still to be finalized but electricity produced is said to be sold to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) under a commercial agreement.

Dr Rankin says that the project will be beneficial for the community. “We have had contact from local workers that are interested and we expect that between 100-150 people will be employed for the construction, though not all at one time,” she said. She also highlighted that workers would be brought into the area and in need of accommodation and local amenities that would bring more money and people into the area as well.

Many in the community and everyone involved is looking forward to full approval and development of the project.