W Cape wind farm gets a conditional nod from government

The government has approved in principle the huge Boulders wind farm project on the West Coast peninsula, near Paternoster, St Helena Bay and Vredenburg.

The department of environment, forestry and fisheries issued an environmental authorisation for the project last week.

However, its approval comes with conditions that include changes to the proposed environmental management programme for operating the 140 megawatt project, as well as additional research into some of the likely impacts, notably on birds and bats.

The department has not reacted directly to strong objections about the visual impact of the new wind farm.

Up to 45 turbines will stand 165m high, and critics say they will create a massive “visual intrusion”, extending from the West Coast National Park in the south to beyond the seaside village of Dwarskersbos in the north – a distance of more than 90km.

Objectors also argue the project will have a negative impact on tourism and property values in this region of “outstanding natural beauty and strong vernacular character”.

This issue is also not dealt with directly by the department.

Key factors considered in the department’s decision included strengthening the existing electricity grid for the area; contributing to the national energy target and helping the government achieve its proposed renewable energy target.

Other factors were the more than 900 job opportunities to be created during the two-year construction phase and up to 60 jobs in the operational phase of the wind farm.

The department says there was “sufficient” identification and assessment of key impacts.

“The proposed mitigation of impacts identified and assessed adequately curtails the identified impacts,” it states.

The department also said it was satisfied that, if the conditions of its authorisation were complied with, the wind farm would not be in conflict with the government’s integrated environmental management policy and any potentially detrimental environmental impacts could be reduced “to acceptable levels”.

Despite its approval in principle, the department rejected the current layout and site development plan as submitted by the developer, and a revised plan must be made available to all interested and affected parties for comment before resubmission for approval.

Also, the environmental management plan of the project, submitted as part of the developer’s Environmental Impact Assessment process, has been rejected and must be revised and made available for comment.

The wind farm’s negative impact on birds and bats was raised as a crucial issue by objectors, and one of the changes required by the department is a post-construction bird monitoring plan in line with non-government birding organisation BirdLife SA’s most recent guidelines for wind farms.

The department also requires a heritage conservation management plan.

– Republished from Groundup