The Salt Creek Wind Farm, to be constructed two kilometres south of Woorndoo, will be the fifth built in the shire and is one of six projects in various stages of approval.

When completed, the turbines at Salt Creek will be the tallest in the shire, with blade tips reaching 150 metres from the ground.

But that regional record could be soon eclipsed as wind farm proponents move toward larger and more efficient turbines.

In April this year, Acciona Energy’s Mortlake South Wind Farm received approval to construct turbines with a blade tip height of 186 metres, up from its original submission of 141 metres.

It means the project will house fewer turbines (42 down from the originally proposed 51), while complying with more stringent noise controls and producing enough clean energy to power 40,000 homes per year.

Other proponents are following suit. Some of these projects were first mooted over a decade ago, and the passage of time has allowed turbine technology to improve greatly – something wind farm companies want to capitalise on.

In May, the developers of the Woolsthorpe Wind Farm – trans-Tasman company Wind Farm Developments – received approval to increase their turbine blade tip height from 135 metres to 168 metres.

Ryan Corner Development Pty Ltd is awaiting approval from state planning minister Richard Wynne to increase its blade tip height from 126.3 metres to 180 metres at the Hawkesdale and Ryan Corner wind farms.

The amendment applications would also see the number of turbines drop from 31 to 26 at Hawkesdale and 68 to 56 at Ryan Corner.

But Tilt Renewables is seeking to top them all. The company is responsible for the Salt Creek Wind Farm and the recently approved Dundonnell Wind Farm, with the latter already the subject of debate over an amendment that could lead to turbines with a blade tip height of 189 metres being built.

For context these towers are still some way short of the tallest in the world. 

Up until last year, the tallest wind turbine was in Denmark and stood at 220 metres. It was surpassed in June 2016 by a 230-metre-high turbine in south-west Germany. Towers with turbines reaching to 200 metres are increasingly common in Europe. 

It all shows that turbine technology has come a long way since Australia’s first commercial wind farm was built at Codrington back in 2001.

Those 14 towers are still going strong and create enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.

This is equal to avoiding the emissions of 49,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases or to taking more than 17,000 cars off the roads, according to Pacific Hydro.