A total of 452 unique submissions were collected. Of these, 401 objected and 38 were in support. Thirteen, including the Goulburn Mulwaree Council, were in neither support nor in objection to the plan.

Residents were able to make more than one submission resulting in a total of 600 submissions.

In a landmark decision, the Australian Wind Alliance (AWA), a community advocacy group for wind power, opposed the project.

“We fear that these shortcomings outweigh the benefits a wind farm should bring to a local community,” AWA national coordinator Andrew Bray said. “[The] AWA believes that turbines should be seen in the context of a contemporary rural landscape.

“While we are unable to support this proposal, we would be happy to see another proposal for a wind farm in this area at a future time that is more cognisant.”

EPYC, a Australian-Spanish company, had proposed 88 wind turbines to be built in Tarago.

Project manager Ibrahim Eid said EPYC has begun collating the submissions which were made public on Monday. 

“We are committed to the proposed Jupiter project and will continue to work with the authorities and the community as we progress,” Mr Eid said. 

He said there were a number of residents who chose to withhold their names.

“The problem would be verifying their claims and responding to their comments,” he said.

“The submission system is open to be manipulated by some who wish to push their personal agenda by putting multiple entries to artificially increase numbers.

“That is not the case for all, but certainly it seems to be the case for some.”

But Residents Against Jupiter Wind Farm member and advocate Dr Michael Crawford said Tarago community members were expecting a strong result.

“If the NSW government approves something with that amount of opposition, their message is that they’ll put [wind farms] wherever the developer wants,” Dr Crawford said.