Focus

On Saturday 29 April, White Rock Wind Farm played host to some lucky members of the local community who saw first-hand the scale of the construction underway.

Three of the site visit attendees were community representatives for the WRWF Community Consultative Committee (CCC). The CCC community representatives’ role is to represent and communicate the interests of the local community to White Rock Wind Farm. The purpose of the CCC is to provide a forum for open discussion between representatives of White Rock Wind Farm, the community, local councils and other stakeholders.

Sandra Royal, Local Representative for White Rock Wind Farm, said that showing the CCC community representatives the construction site has increased their understanding of the project.

‘CCC community representatives have an important role in acting as an interface between the local community and White Rock Farm. Having CCC community representatives on site allowed them to experience first-hand the sheer scale and scope of the ongoing construction works and will assist them in performing their important role.’ Said Sandra

The remaining site visit attendees were successful raffle winners from several local events including the Glen Innes Show Jump, Glen Innes Club Rose Carnival and the Glen Innes Debutant Ball. The raffle prize included a tour of the project site, personalised hi-vis safety vest, a model Goldwind turbine, and a photo of their time on site.

‘White Rock Wind Farm aims to contribute to the community through support and sponsorship of local community initiatives and events. Our donation of raffle prizes to several local events generated a lot of interest and allowed these organisations to raise money towards their relevant causes.’ Said Sandra.

Site visit attendees were accompanied on site by Sandra, Stuart Hitchcock Project Construction Manager, David Davies Health Safety Environment Quality Site Supervisor and other key site personnel.

‘As construction is underway, site visits such as these require substantial resources from the on-site team. Safety is a number one priority and all attendees had a full safety induction before being escorted around the site. Showing local community members a glimpse of the construction progress and answering questions was a real pleasure’ said Stuart.

Construction of stage one of White Rock Wind Farm commenced in May 2016 and is aimed to be complete by late 2017. 16 turbines are now installed and the grid connection is expected to be energised in June.