March 20, 2007
Australia

Moyne tipped to support wind farm

Moyne Shire councillors are expected to support a 68-turbine wind farm proposed for 12 kilometres north-west of Port Fairy.

A special meeting to be held today will form a position on the $300 million project and make a submission to Victorian Planning Minister Justin Madden.

Mr Madden will decide the future of the 136-megawatt farm because local government does not have the authority to approve wind projects above 30 megawatts.

Project manager Adam Proctor, representing developer TME Australia, addressed councillors last week about the project which is estimated to contribute $165,000 annually to the shire’s coffers in rates.

The project, on the Hamilton-Port Fairy Road, consists of 68 turbines across 3500 hectares of grazing land. The turbines are expected to stand no more than 121.5 metres tall.

The meeting agenda notes the council received one objection, one supportive submission and a third submission seeking assurances that water run-off and water quality would not change as a result of the construction of the wind
farm.

The special council meeting will begin at 4pm at the Port Fairy Yacht Club today.

A REQUEST to remove native vegetation from the proposed wind farm will be passed on to the Victorian Planning Minister to decide.

A report to this week’s Moyne Shire planning meeting states TME Australia believes some vegetation needs to be removed to allow access to the site.

There was little debate before the 8-0 vote to pass the request on the minister.

Last year the council referred two similar applications requesting vegetation removal on to the minister and this week decided to follow the precedent.

By Sarah Scopelianos

standard.net.au

20 March 2007


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/03/20/moyne-tipped-to-support-wind-farm/