Wind farm approval will see 300-metre-high turbines erected in southern NSW - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

A wind farm proposal in southern NSW has cleared approval, clearing the way for turbines 300 metres high. The article does not specify the project name, location within the region, or total capacity.

Where this fits

This is another data point in Australia's renewable build-out, which is proceeding without the firm dispatchable power that a reliable grid demands. Wind is weather-dependent. When the wind does not blow, Australia must either accept load shedding, rely on gas peaking plants, or draw on battery storage that is nowhere near the required scale. Each of these options adds cost to the system beyond the headline cost of the turbine itself: transmission overbuild to connect remote sites, firming infrastructure, or both. The approval also advances the materials problem. Turbine manufacture and supply are concentrated in China and Europe. Australia is building a grid whose critical components depend on supply chains it does not own and cannot control.

What it means

NSW is adding generation capacity that will lower the wholesale price of electricity on windy days while raising system costs on still days. The state is building for weather, not demand. Without firm power, that 300-metre turbine is part of a system that burns more gas for firming and risks blackouts on calm, cold evenings when electricity demand peaks and wind output falls. A nuclear alternative, banned by law, would deliver the same decarbonisation at a fraction of the whole-system cost and with zero weather risk. Australia is choosing the more expensive path while locking in dependence on China's supply chain for the technology that underpins it.