Forest Wind wind farm South East Qld
Proponent: Forest Wind Holdings Pty Ltd (Forest Wind)
Project: 226 wind turbines and related and ancillary infrastructure. The Project will be located within an existing actively managed and operational exotic pine plantation in the Toolara, Tuan and Neerdie State Forests which is used for the primary purpose of growing and extracting exotic pine from a major forestry plantation, with two major timber processing facilities within the plantation.
Wind turbines: 160 metre high towers
Scale: Project Area (PLA) total area - 67,131 ha, Project footprint (excludes existing access tracks) - Up to 500 ha. A High Voltage Transmission Line will be required to be designed and constructed within the OTC to transfer the generated electricity from Forest Wind to an existing Powerlink Queensland (Powerlink) substation located at Woolooga to the west of Gympie, which will be the transmission point of connection to the National Electricity Market.
Threatened species that inhabit the site:
Koalas observed in native habitat interspersed between pine colonies.
A Grey-Headed Flying Fox colony lives only 5km away.
The Southern white throated snapping turtle, critically endangered, has a high chance of occurring.
The Mary River Turtle, endangered, high chance of occurring.
The Wallum Sedge Frog has a moderate chance of occurring.
Giant Barred Frog has a high chance of occurring.
Threatened Flora onsite:
Acacia attenuata - Vulnerable, high potential to occur
Fontania rostrata - Vulnerable, high potential to occur
Our concerns:
Forest Wind wind farm is an extremely large industrial development in close proximity to the Great Sandy Strait, a destination for migratory species. Desi’s website states that every year “millions of migrant shorebird species travel along routes known as flyways. At least 20,000 birds from 20 species migrate from as far as Siberia and rest and feed on the Great Sandy Strait's mangrove-lined flats between September and April each year. They need to feed and rest undisturbed before their marathon return journey. Repeated disturbances use up their energy reserves, much needed for their flight onwards”. The threat of so many wind turbines colonising airspace that may be a critical migratory pathway for migratory species is extremely worrying.
The proposed Forest Wind wind farm also sets a worrying precedent for State Forests to become potential sites for renewable energy developments. State Forests are frequently inhabited by wildlife and should be kept intact. Destroying intact forest that is both an important carbon sequestration resource as well as home to wildlife is wrong.
