Mount Fyans Wind Farm
Client: Woolnorth Renewables
Location: Victoria
Date: 2011 – ongoing
Providing a breadth of specialist services and planning leadership to help bring a wind farm into being
Background
The Mt Fyans Wind Farm is proposed for Western Victoria, 5 km north of Mortlake and approximately 140 km west of Geelong. It falls within the Southwest Renewable Energy Zone – a key region earmarked for the development of renewable energy generation, transmission and decarbonisation projects.
The wind farm, comprising up to 81 wind turbines with a maximum tip height of 200 metres, was assessed by the Victorian Government and received a planning permit from the Minister of Planning in August 2025.
Plans for the 400 MW 10,700 hectare project across multiple private landholdings evolved significantly over time to minimise impacts on the environment, cultural heritage and neighbours, as well as other technical constraints.
Solution
The wind farm was first proposed in 2008. Entura has provided a wide range of services to this project over the first decade, including market investigations, wind monitoring, landowner and community consultation, environmental studies, energy modelling and estimates, sodar and lidar procurement and testing, preliminary layout design, preliminary transmission and electrical design, concept design for SCADA and communications, constructability analysis and options analyses.
In 2018, our role increased, having been commissioned by Hydro Tasmania as the planning lead. In this role, we managed the approvals phase, coordinated all the necessary technical studies, and authored the planning assessment report, which we submitted in late 2018.
Over the last seven years, we’ve led the ongoing planning and environmental aspects of the project. We have also undertaken specialist studies in hydrology, geology, and visual impacts including shadow flicker and blade glint. Our water specialists undertook multi-year 2D hydrological and hydraulic modelling of the wind farm site and surrounds, to understand the impacts of the wind farm on key fauna.
In 2020, the project was notified of its requirement to be assessed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. Further studies were commissioned to understand the impact of the project on EPBC-listed species including the southern bent-wing bat, natural temperate grasslands of the Victorian volcanic plains and seasonable herbaceous wetland of the temperate lowland plains.
Entura worked with Woolnorth and specialist consultants to progress several significant changes to the original project design in response to community feedback, including reducing the number and density of turbines and creating vegetation buffers to reduce visual impacts, using an alternative traffic route, and updating the Cultural Heritage Management Plan.
Based on the changes, Entura submitted an amended application in November 2022, which was followed by hearings in 2023.
Outcome
The project was approved by the Minister of Planning in August 2025. Entura continues to provide technical, environmental and planning support to the project as it moves into the next phase of development. The approval for the wind farm project is believed to be the first major wind farm in 3 years to achieve this outcome.
Once operational, Mt Fyans Wind Farm is expected to be capable of producing up to 400 MW or 1,500 GWh per year, which is estimated to be enough clean energy to power the equivalent of approximately 280,000 average homes – more than the entire Barwon South-West region. With the wind farm expected to operate for around 25 years, it stands to make a significant contribution to Victoria’s net zero targets and clean energy transition.
