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Roaring 40s
Hydro Tasmania and the CLP Group own the renewable energy development company Roaring 40s as a 50-50 joint venture. This business, based in Hobart, Tasmania, has grown to become one of Australia’s leading wind energy developers, with sites in operation or planning in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria.
A summary of Roaring 40s portfolio is found in table 6.
Roaring 40s remains committed to ensuring that its developments are undertaken in a manner that is sensitive to environmental and community concerns. Roaring 40s maintains close engagement with key stakeholders, including local councils, state and federal government departments, landowners and other community organisations to ensure that all Roaring 40s’ Tasmanian wind energy developments are managed in accordance with strict permit requirements and to an industry leading standard.
Environmental management, including occurrence response, assessment and planning, operational management and permit compliance auditing, is carried out in accordance with the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard. Roaring 40s sought and gained accreditation under this standard in December 2007.
The impact on birds of Tasmanian wind developments is closely monitored and assessed by regular field surveys. Roaring 40s has committed considerable investment into understanding, conducting research and implementing mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of its operations on birds.
Roaring 40s has also initiated other programs aimed at providing enhanced habitat for bird species and increasing the public’s awareness of specific species. Some examples of its commitments and programs include:
- specific species management plans
- bird behaviour and observational research
- establishing feeding and roosting habitat areas for the orange-bellied parrot
- protecting eagle nest sites with formal reserves and conducting
- eagle nest surveys and searches across Tasmania
- training Roaring 40s’ and other site personnel in bird observations
- managing turbine operation to reduce collision risk.
Workforce safety is managed by the company safety management system GENsafe and Roaring 40s sought and gained accreditation to AS4801 across all Tasmanian sites in December 2007 and plans to seek further accreditation of all remaining Australian sites into the future. Roaring 40s has a Safety and Environment Team, Responsible Officers and an Occurrence Management System to manage safety and environmental occurrences.
Roaring 40s has recruited highly qualified and experienced staff who reflect the company’s values and commitment to environmentally sustainable development. With this experienced team, Roaring 40s is well positioned to take advantage of the growing domestic market for renewable energy as the federal Government moves to cap emissions and achieve a 20 per cent renewable energy target by 2020.
More information on Roaring 40s can be found on the web site: www.roaring40s.com.au
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