A $700 million 270 megawatt wind farm will be built near Nimmitabel on the far south coast of NSW.
The wind farm will be the second largest in NSW and will have the potential to power up to 120,000 homes each year when fully operational.
The wind farm will be constructed by Boco Rock Wind Farm using one of two possible layouts — 122 turbines or 104 turbines.
It is expected the win farm will be fully operational by 2013 and will help NSW meet its State Plan target to achieve a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
"The facility will be located in a sparsely populated area in the high altitude plateau of the Monaro Plains, around 50 km east of Kosciuszko National Park," says Tony Kelly, Minister for Planning.
"Because of its isolated location, there are only two non-involved houses located within a 3 km radius of the nearest wind turbine."
A total of 73 conditions have been imposed on the project requiring Boco Rock to permanently protect 750 hectares of natural temperate grasslands, to offset the disturbance to vegetation as a result of the wind farm’s construction and operation, provide screen planting at some residences to block views of the turbines and donate annual contributions of $2,500 per turbine — to up to $305,000 per year depending on the layout — to the local community to fund projects such as infrastructure upgrades and tourist development.
