The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) states that renewable energy is produced using natural resources that are constantly replaced and never run out. Just as there are many natural sources of energy, there are many renewable energy technologies including wind, solar, and hydro.

Wind energy is generated by harnessing the power of the wind through wind turbines. It is a great alternative to burning fossil fuels like coal, because wind energy does not produce greenhouse gas emissions.

Wind farms are located in areas of land where individual wind turbines are connected to the electricity grid. Those wind turbines use the energy of the wind to spin an electric generator, which produces electricity. Wind flows over the blades like air flowing over an aeroplane wing. This flow of air causes a different in air pressure between the top and bottom of the blade, moving the blade and making the central rotor spin. The rotor drives a generator that produces energy to export to the grid.

Science based evidence has demonstrated that human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases is driving global warming. Fossil fuel burning (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy consumption is the main source of these emissions.

In 2015, 196 nations agreed to a legally binding international treatment on climate change that is called the Paris Agreement. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. In order to achieve this goal, countries across the world are transitioning their energy generation systems from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as wind and solar.

Renewable energy technologies generate electricity intermittently, as the wind does not continuously blow and the solar radiation intensity is not constant. Nevertheless, different ways to use energy from wind and sun have been developed to maintain a reliable supply of electricity, such as pairing wind farms with solar farms and/or energy storage such as batteries.

The proposed Paling Yards Wind Farm is located approximately 30 kilometers north of Taralga and 60 kilometers south of Oberon. The whole site and associated infrastructure will be within the Oberon City Council LGA. The project covers an area of approximately 3,900 hectares

The wind farm has proposed up to 47 wind turbines.

A new on-site collector substation has been proposed, a ~7km 132kV transmission line and a 500kV switching station to connect the windfarm to the existing Mt Piper – Bannaby TransGrid’s 500KV transmission line.

GPG Australia is an independent power producer, and operate its renewable energy plants for the duration of their design life. The expected lifetime of proposed wind farm will be 30 years.

As a subsidiary of Spanish utility Naturgy Group, GPG is an experienced and responsible global developer and operator of power generation assets. GPG has a long-term owner vision and intends to operate the wind farms for it’s design life in partnership with the community. At the end of the operating life of the wind farms, GPG is committed to fulfilling all decommissioning responsibilities and returning the site/land to the local community.