The Perth-headquartered Indigenous-owned and operated Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation (YEC) has had two of its projects prioritised for regulatory approval on the federal government’s national renewable energy priority list.
Eligible companies for the National Renewable Energy Priority List (NREPL) are chosen through a collaboration of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the Energy Climate Change Ministerial Council.
Projects on the NREPL receive enhanced regulatory support under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC Act), such as priority validation, a dedicated case manager, immediate document review, and expert prioritisation.
YEC’s projects include the Chichester Range Transmission Corridor (CRTC) connecting the Pilbara to the North-West Interconnected system (NWIS) and Baru-Marnda, an approximately 1 GW dual wind plus solar project with optional battery energy storage systems (BESS), to be built in the Western Australia (WA) Pilbara region.
The CRTC high voltage (HV) transmission project will link Yindjibarndi Ngurra (Country) and the western Pilbara region to the NWIS via the Maitland strategic industrial area 24 kilometres west of Karratha and 39 kilometres south of Dampier Port.
Image: Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation
YEC Chief Executive Officer Michael Woodley said the decision reinforces the advantage gained by partnering in a respectful way with Traditional Owners.
“As a community grounded in our Ngurra and culture, we have enabled YEC to progress its projects at a rate much faster than similar projects elsewhere in Australia,” Woodley said.
YEC Chief Executive Officer Craig Ricato said the corporation is ‘very pleased’ to have their projects recognised at a national level.
“This acknowledgment underscores our commitment to sustainable energy development and the positive impact it has on our communities,” Ricato said.
Participation in the NREPL initiative supports YEC’s plan for a First Nations-led, decarbonisation of the Pilbara, with its long term goal to develop 2-3 GW of combined wind and solar energy within the 13,000 km² Yindjibarndi Native Title Determination Areas.
YEC is a partnership between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) and Philippines-headquartered clean energy developer ACEN Corporation.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.