February 21, 2013
Australia

Final public hearing held for wind farm plan

ABC News | 21 February 2013 | www.abc.net.au

Pacific Hydro is hoping a decision on its proposed wind farm between the Barossa Valley and Mid Murray region will be made by the middle of this year.

The Development Assessment Commission is holding its last public hearing today on the 42-turbine proposal, before making its recommendation to the South Australian Government.

Andrew Richards from Pacific Hydro says he is expecting about 12 local residents to make presentations at the hearing and not all will be supporting the project.

“No matter what you do, if you’re doing something new in someone’s area, there will be people who don’t like it and we’ve certainly got some people like that,” he said.

“Our general feeling though and the feedback that we have and from polling we’ve done a little while ago now is that generally speaking people are quite supportive of it.”

Mr Richards says if approved, it would not mean construction would begin straight away.

“There’s lots of other market-based issues that come into this, the Australian dollar and what the renewable energy market is doing and all those sorts of things,” he said.

“So for us, planning approval is one piece of a really large puzzle that gets put together.”

A local group lobbying against the development says its submission will draw attention to inaccuracies in Pacific Hydro’s proposal.

Tony Walker from the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Landscape Guardians says the submission will also focus on several new studies, to argue that wind farms destroy local communities.

“We know that ethically and morally, this project should be rejected,” he said.

“So we know, without a doubt, that a significant number of people are going to be impacted.

“Some people, their lives are going to be made impossible, some people are just going to have to go, some people’s businesses are going to be destroyed.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/02/21/final-public-hearing-held-for-wind-farm-plan/