A concise chronological guide to the principal planning, construction, generation, commissioning and operational noise-compliance milestones identified in the available documentary record.
This page provides a high-level documentary sequence. It does not replace the detailed chronology, technical-report pages or governing-framework analysis.
2007
Initial background noise monitoring
Background sound monitoring was undertaken during the original pre-construction assessment period. The monitoring campaign included I14aa (St Sava Monastery) as one of the original assessment locations. This material formed part of the technical record preceding the 2008 noise assessment and established part of the documentary baseline against which the later monitoring framework developed. See the Representative Monitoring pathway.
Documentary source: Marshall Day Acoustics background monitoring record.
5 February 2008
Marshall Day Noise Assessment
Marshall Day Acoustics issued its Lal Lal Wind Farm Noise Assessment for WestWind Energy Pty Ltd. The report is an early technical assessment within the project’s planning record.
Documentary source: Marshall Day Acoustics, Report 001 R01 2007344, 5 February 2008.
30 April 2009
Planning Permit issued
The planning permit established the project approval and the conditions governing development, operation and later noise-compliance assessment.
Documentary source: Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461, issued 30 April 2009.
20 March 2017
Planning Permit amended
The permit was amended before construction. The amendment forms part of the governing planning framework applicable to the project.
Documentary source: Planning permit amendment dated 20 March 2017.
23 January 2018
Noise Compliance Testing Plan
Marshall Day Acoustics issued the endorsed Noise Compliance Testing Plan (NCTP). Once endorsed under Planning Permit Condition 25, the NCTP formed part of the Planning Permit and established the project-specific operational noise compliance pathway. It identifies K15aa for updated background monitoring before commencement of operation and repeatedly uses commissioning of the last turbine as the trigger for post-construction monitoring, compliance testing and reporting. EPA Victoria later described that documentary status in the following terms: “The Endorsed NCTP is a part of the authorising document – the planning control.”
Documentary source: Marshall Day Acoustics, MDA 003 R03, 23 January 2018.
May 2018
Construction commenced
The project bulletin advised that construction would commence at the end of May 2018, with civil works, access roads, the site compound and substation works forming part of the initial program.
Documentary source: Lal Lal Wind Farms Project Update, May 2018.
20 June 2019
Generation commenced
Lal Lal Wind Farm commenced generating power before completion of commissioning. The 15 April 2025 LLWF letter records that the Yendon section commenced generating power on 20 June 2019. This milestone later assumed additional documentary significance because EPA Victoria stated that it considers “commencement of operation” to occur “when the facility commences exporting electricity to the common electrical grid.” That later administrative position is preserved as context for the operational-noise and commissioning chronology and is not treated here as resolving the distinct concepts of generation, grid export, commencement of operation, commissioning or commissioning of the last turbine.
Documentary source: LLWF letter dated 15 April 2025.
July–November 2019
Supplementary K15aa background monitoring
Supplementary monitoring later reported by SLR was undertaken during this period. Its timing is read alongside the construction, energisation, generation and commissioning chronology.
Following a blade incident at Yendon on 15 September 2019, operation of all turbines at Lal Lal Wind Farm was suspended as a standard precautionary safety measure. On the afternoon of 16 September 2019, operation resumed on all turbines except those in the Yendon section, which remained under inspection.
The Community Reference Group record states that construction was complete while commissioning continued, documenting the transition between construction and operation.
Documentary source: Community Reference Group minutes, 1 October 2019.
18 November 2020
Final turbine commissioning milestone used for landscaping closure
The Community Reference Group minutes dated 4 December 2019 record 18 November 2020 as the date on which the landscaping program would close by reference to the final-turbine commissioning milestone. A June 2020 Community Bulletin later stated 19 November 2020. These public records are preserved as the landscaping-program chronology and are not treated as silently resolving the different commissioning date later reported elsewhere.
Documentary source: Community Reference Group minutes, 4 December 2019.
27 February–26 March 2020
Interim Compliance Monitoring for the community
Community Reference Group minutes dated 24 March 2020 record that the post-construction noise monitoring program had been delayed because Lal Lal Wind Farm was not operating at full capacity, and that “Noise testing is being carried out at 2 dwellings, noise loggers will be removed after a 4 week period in April 2020.” Separate documentary material identifies the monitoring as having been undertaken by SLR at noise-sensitive locations K34aa and L28aa between approximately 27 February and 26 March 2020, and describes it as “Interim Compliance Monitoring for the community.”
Documentary sources: Community Reference Group minutes, 24 March 2020; separate documentary record identifying the monitoring locations, dates and stated purpose.
October–December 2020
Interim noise monitoring
SLR described this monitoring campaign as “an interim check of compliance” because the wind farm was not yet operating at full capacity, with constrained operations imposed by the network operator while the facility ramped up production in accordance with Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) requirements. In later correspondence responding to EPA Information Gathering Notice IGN-00008382, LLWF stated that AEMO constraints had been lifted for the Elaine section on 8 September 2020, while the Yendon section was released to full output on 22 December 2020. These later statements provide additional documentary context for why the October–December 2020 monitoring was characterised as interim rather than the formal post-construction compliance program.
Documentary sources: SLR Interim Noise Monitoring Report, April 2021; LLWF response to EPA Information Gathering Notice IGN-00008382, 14 April 2025.
16 February 2021
SLR supplementary K15aa baseline report issued
The supplementary background monitoring undertaken during 2019 was formally documented in SLR's Baseline Noise Monitoring report issued on 16 February 2021. The report states that the 2019 survey was undertaken to obtain valid baseline noise levels prior to the wind farm's operation and to determine the appropriate operational noise limits for receiver K15aa in accordance with the Planning Permit. The report is also the documentary record of the updated background noise monitoring required by the endorsed Noise Compliance Testing Plan to be submitted prior to commencement of operation, forming part of the project-specific operational noise compliance pathway established under Planning Permit Condition 25.
Formal Stage 1 monitoring for the Elaine section was undertaken during this period. The report records a monitoring duration of approximately 54 days at K15aa, H18aa and L18aa.
Documentary source: SLR Post-construction Noise Assessment — Elaine, October 2023.
12 April 2022
Planning Permit amended
A further permit amendment was issued on 12 April 2022. The amendment is retained separately within the permit chronology and documentary hierarchy.
Documentary source: Planning permit amendment dated 12 April 2022.
26 May–2 August 2022
Yendon Stage 1 monitoring
Formal Stage 1 monitoring for the Yendon section followed approximately one year later. The report records monitoring at N31ab, M29aa and K34aa during this period.
Documentary source: SLR Post-construction Noise Assessment — Yendon, October 2023.
March 2023–January 2024
Stage 2 monitoring — Elaine and Yendon
The Stage 2 program covered both the Elaine and Yendon sections through monitoring campaigns undertaken between March 2023 and January 2024. The final Stage 2 report was issued on 20 September 2024.
The permit was amended again on 15 May 2026, including changes associated with the later regulatory framework and responsible-authority arrangements.
Documentary source: Planning permit amendment dated 15 May 2026.
Reading position: Dates are attributed to the identified documentary sources. Where the wider record contains differing commissioning or operational descriptions, those distinctions remain preserved in the detailed chronology and verification pages.
Administrative record
2026 documentary reconciliation of the commissioning milestone
The chronology preserves different source descriptions of commissioning and does not resolve them by assumption. Two 2026 FOI pathways add information about the formal records held by Council and DTP.
15–22 April 2026 — Council pathway
Council FOI SR.142870 records searches for commissioning certificates, notifications, milestone registers and internal records, with no responsive documents found. The Trustee's later Governance clarification records why the milestone matters to the post-construction chronology and requests confirmation of Council's administrative position.
DTP FOI CS019200 records eight documents located but no commissioning certificates, individual turbine commissioning records, practical completion certificates or handover certificates located. The Trustee sought clarification concerning the applicant identity and Part 4 of the request. On 4 August 2026, DTP issued a supplementary clarification stating that, following relevant enquiries, it was unable to locate any documents in response to Part 4 concerning documentary authority for the identified departures from the NZS 6808:2010 definitions of background sound level and notional boundary.
