{"id":640416,"date":"2026-04-30T11:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640416\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:04:23","slug":"wa-planning-authorities-approve-500m-wind-farm-at-scott-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640416\/","title":{"rendered":"WA planning authorities approve $500m wind farm at Scott River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Australia’s Regional Development Assessment Panel has approved a controversial $500 million onshore wind farm in the state’s South West.<\/p>\n

The project has faced significant community opposition<\/a> since it was first announced in 2024, with 400 objections lodged over the application process.<\/p>\n

The 100-megawatt wind farm, to be developed by state-owned power provider Synergy, is planned for Scott River, 300km south of Perth.<\/p>\n

It was unanimously approved after a lengthy meeting in nearby Margaret River on Thursday, subject to Synergy meeting a number of environmental and planning conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Artist’s impression of the visual impact of the proposed wind farm as seen from Scott River Road. (Supplied: Synergy)<\/p>\n

In December WA’s environmental watchdog decided the proposed renewables project did not require a formal environmental assessment.<\/p>\n

It was then approved at a federal level by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, which deemed in March that the project was not a controlled action if undertaken in a particular manner.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a Synergy spokesperson said the initial development approval was for five years.<\/p>\n

“A comprehensive analysis \u2026 will also be undertaken to determine the commercial viability and timing of the proposed wind farm,” they said.<\/p>\n

Divisive process<\/p>\n

Thursday’s meeting drew significant local interest, with a crowd of supporters and opponents packing out the Augusta Margaret River shire offices.<\/p>\n

Four-hundred and five objections were submitted during the development’s public consultation. One-hundred and fifty-five were lodged in support.<\/p>\n

During the debate, RDAP deputy presiding member Clayton Higham acknowledged the community concerns.<\/p>\n

“I do, however, want to say \u2026 it’s not a numbers game when it comes to planning,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s about the planning arguments presented and the impact likely on the development application itself.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The RDAP meeting drew a large crowd of residents. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

Save the Scott River coordinator Scott Baxter said the panel had failed to address concerns over the project’s size, noise and environmental impact.<\/p>\n

He said he was “in shock” after the decision was handed down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Considering there were so many people here today in opposition with really valid concerns and they basically just ignored it,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's<\/p>\n

Synergy says the farm’s visual impact will be minimal. (Supplied: Synergy)<\/p>\n

“This will change the complete fabric of our community. It’ll never be the same again.<\/p>\n

“You put 20 of those turbines on a small footprint at the Scott River on a flood plain, it’s just going to change it forever.”<\/p>\n

But Augusta Margaret River Clean Community Energy chair Jessica Worrall said it was a “huge milestone”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Save the Scott River coordinator Scott Baxter said the approval shocked him. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

“This process was started and driven by the community wanting a renewable energy system to reduce emissions in our shire and act on climate change,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I hope the community really pulls together and supports this.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jessica Worrall hopes the community will get behind the project. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

The proposed turbines would reach a maximum height of 250 metres, measured to the tip of the turbine blades.<\/p>\n

Electricity from the proposed wind farm would feed into the Beenup substation, powering nearby homes and businesses before being distributed into the South West Interconnected System.<\/p>\n

Within its 3,597-hectare development envelope, the project includes a total disturbance area of 107 hectares. According to the proposal, no more than a hectare of native vegetation would be cleared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Australia’s Regional Development Assessment Panel has approved a controversial $500 million onshore wind farm in the state’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,310134,310132,310135,310131,41844,310133,258778,84218,310137,45,72610,310136],"class_list":["post-640416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-coal-transition","tag-onshore-wind-farm","tag-renewable-transition-wa","tag-scott-river-wind-farm","tag-south-west-news","tag-south-west-wind-farm","tag-swis","tag-synergy","tag-wa-energy","tag-wa-news","tag-wind-farm","tag-wind-farm-cost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}