Lecroma — Shaping a resilient future
REZ Project Watch
Australia · NSW deep dive
⌕
▸ Presenter mode
Demo seed — verify before use. This dashboard distinguishes between declared REZs, proposed or candidate REZs, access-rights projects, planning-portal projects, priority-list projects and offshore wind declared areas. Status does not imply final approval unless confirmed by the relevant authority.
Data currency: 2026-05-18 · 59 of 67 projects verified at confidence ≥ 70/100
Verified URLs span NSW Planning Portal, IPC, DCCEEW EPBC, proponent project sites.
NSW deep dive › New England REZ › Sapphire Wind Farm

Sapphire Wind Farm

Squadron Energy
windoperatingConfidence: Very high
Capacity and technology
Technology
wind
Capacity (MW)
270 MW
Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce
Total development cost
~$945M benchmark estimate
270 MW × $3.5M/MW (wind, NSW 2025-26 escalated)
Industry benchmark only — not project-specific. Sources: Clean Energy Council, BloombergNEF 2024 Australian utility-scale LCOE inputs, AEMO ISP 2024 cost assumptions. Actual capex varies materially by site, OEM, supply chain and grid-connection works.
Estimated local / regional spend
~$208M benchmark estimate
22% of capex — Clean Energy Council benchmark for renewable energy construction in regional Australia. Actual local content varies by project siting, procurement strategy and any access-scheme local-content conditions.
Estimated peak construction workforce
~189 roles benchmark estimate
Industry benchmark: ~0.7 FTE/MW wind, 0.5 FTE/MW solar, 0.4 FTE/MWh BESS, 1.5 FTE/MW pumped hydro. Peak during civil/electrical phase only — operations workforce is typically ~5-10% of construction peak.
Workforce breakdown — sector mix and phasing

Sector mix and phase distribution for the estimated construction workforce. Basis: industry norm (Clean Energy Council, ARENA, AEMO ISP 2024 + comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments). Numbers are decision-support indicators, not a project-specific forecast.

By service sector / industry (peak year)
Civil / earthworks
~57 FTE
Electrical trades
~34 FTE
Mechanical / structural
~42 FTE
Plant operators
~23 FTE
PM / engineering / env
~19 FTE
Logistics / admin
~15 FTE
By phase (across construction window)
PhaseFTEWhat's happening
Mobilisation + civils (year 1)
~113
Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant.
Peak construction (year 2)
~189
All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep.
Commissioning / demob (year 3)
~132
Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down.
Operations (ongoing)
~13
Permanent O&M workforce — typically 5–10% of construction peak. Plus periodic major-maintenance windows.

Sector mix from CEC, ARENA and AEMO ISP workforce profiles for utility-scale Australian builds. Phase distribution from comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments. Indicative only — actual workforce varies with OEM, contractor strategy, weather and OSOM scheduling.

Approvals and access rights
Project status
operating
Planning status
Approved; constructed; commercial operations
Access right status
pre-REZ access scheme
EPBC status
approved — operating
Grid connection
connected
Financial close
complete
Construction start
2016
Operations start
2018
Location
LGA
Glen Innes Severn / Inverell Shire
Region
Northern Tablelands NSW — ~18 km west of Glen Innes
REZ
New England REZ
REZ relationship
inside declared REZ
Coordinates
-29.7, 151.5 (approximate)
Project documents — EIS, SEARs, proponent pages

Direct links to public documents and pages for this project. Phase 2 ingestion will pull updates automatically; Sprint 0 entries are verified manually with a confidence score per record.

Notes

Operating NE REZ wind farm. Notable for community benefit fund precedent — 8+ years of community fund disbursements is a relevant precedent for shared-value governance in the upcoming NE REZ build-out.

Source confidence: 88/100
Last verified: 2026-05-15
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Source evidence
Confidence: Very high
  • secondaryProponent project websites
    View source ↗
    Proponent-supplied content from each project's dedicated page on the proponent's website. Useful for technology, capacity intent, community engagement messaging, project newsletters, fact sheets and timeline updates. Cannot override official planning_status or epbc_status. Per-project page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
  • primaryAEMO — Generation Information
    View source ↗
    Technical pipeline data for NEM connections. Authoritative for grid-connection technical status.
Open questions
  • Planning status against the NSW Planning Portal — verify SSD reference.
  • EPBC referral status — verify against DCCEEW public notices.
  • Storage MWh and voltage figures — confirm from proponent documents and AEMO Generation Information.
  • Workforce and accommodation commitments — confirm in SSD documentation or VPA.
  • First Nations engagement reporting — confirm in IEP / cultural heritage chapter.
See this project in context
REZ workspace
New England REZ
All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ
LGA detail
Glen Innes Severn
2 projects · everything affecting this council area
LGA detail
Inverell Shire
2 projects · everything affecting this council area
Workforce + supply ratio
Demand vs ABS baseline
How this REZ's peak compares to existing regional workforce
Regional spend
Annual flow by year
This project's share of the year-by-year capex flow into regional NSW
Project timeline
Gantt by REZ
Visual overlap with neighbouring projects' construction windows
Cross-sector pressures
Non-REZ competing demand
What else is being built in the region in the same window
Upcoming decisions
4 relevant to this project or REZ
IPC meetings, EIS exhibitions, council determinations