Strict conditions set around a proposed $1 billion wind farm in Victoria to protect nesting brolga and a tiny, critically endangered bat have sounded a “death knell” for wind power in the state’s south-west and make renewables targets unachievable, according to the project developer.

The unprecedented rules imposed by Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny on the controversial 400-megawatt Willatook wind farm north of Port Fairy – which has been on the drawing board for more than a decade – have shocked the renewable energy sector, which is already struggling with cost inflation, social licence problems and slow approvals and connections for projects.