Alinta Energy Scales Back Whitsundays Wind Farm Due to Low Wind and Community Opposition

A lack of strong wind and fierce community opposition have forced Alinta Energy to scale back the size of its proposed Whitsundays wind farm.

Thirty turbines were planned to be installed near cane and cattle farms between Proserpine and Bowen.

Alinta Energy general manager of development Andreas Maasing said six months of monitoring led to the conclusion that the "wind resource" was insufficient to generate power at the southern end of the site.

A map produced by Alinta Energy shows 14 wind turbines were proposed for the Crystal Brook area in the south and 16 in the Mount Challenger area to the north.

Mr Maasing said there were positive signs from satellite data but local monitoring revealed that was not the case.

"We have identified the overall project has very good prospects [going] forward, however, the southern end … unfortunately did not have enough wind yields," he said.

In an email to landholders Mr Maasing said community concerns were also a factor in the decision.

"Through our consultation to date, we also heard that some members of the community were concerned about turbines being located in that area," the email said.

"We have taken that feedback on board and considered it alongside the wind-monitoring data and other assessments."

Mr Maasing said Alinta would continue to explore the feasibility of the northern project on property owned by a single landholder.

The company said a solar farm at the southern end was still proposed and that it had asked Whitsunday Regional Council to extend its planning and development application.

Local opposition

Crystal Brook cane farmer Darren Lee was one of more than 4,000 people to sign a petition opposing the wind farm.

He said he would not celebrate until the entire project was abandoned.

"They presented the project as one and it should be scrapped as one," Mr Lee said.

"The location was terrible from the start, but there are other people just as impacted as we were and will still be impacted at the northern site."

He said community opposition would continue until there were bigger setbacks from property boundaries and turbines, and funds guaranteed to decommission the site at the end of its life.

Kelly Dalling, whose 4-hectare property sits halfway between the southern and northern areas of the proposed wind farm, welcomed the decision.

She said she was potentially looking at turbines on two sides of her property.

"I'm extremely emotional, very happy for our community who have been immensely stressed for almost a year now fighting this project," Ms Dalling said.

"At the same time, I feel for our northern neighbours. I still feel the project is wrong for their location too."