THE largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere will not be built without community support.
Hydro Tasmania chief executive Roy Adair said local support was essential to the $2 billion project which would entail a 600-megawatt and 200-turbine development on King Island.
He said the project would move to the feasibility stage at the end of a three-month consultation process if the project was supported.
"Before we get involved in spending a significant amount of time and resources on full feasibility we need to test this with the community," Mr Adair said.
"We need the community to be fully behind it, otherwise it won't go ahead."
Hydro Tasmania hopes to commence construction in early 2017 and would aim to have the wind farm up and running by 2019.
It is estimated up to 500 jobs would be created during the construction phase.
Reaction appears mixed on a community-run Facebook page debating the proposal. It comes as energy company AGL released the results of a recent study on the benefits the company's wind farms have on regional Victoria's economy.
The report said AGL's two Victorian wind farms had added $67 million to gross regional product and nationally, the projects had created more than 2700 jobs during development and 150 ongoing jobs.
The Weekly Times reported earlier this year that other states were cashing in on strict Victorian planning laws, which were driving many wind-farm developers away.
