August 29, 2019
Australia

Moyne Shire Council requests Woolnorth Wind Farm removes anemometer from proposed Mount Fyans site

Jackson Graham | The Standard | August 29 2019 | www.standard.net.au

The company proposing to build a wind farm at Mount Fyans will remove a wind monitoring tower from the site that no longer has a council permit.

Moyne Shire councillor Jim Doukas flagged at the council’s August meeting that Woolnorth Wind Farm’s anemometer at the site, near Mortlake, had expired in February.

Cr Doukas initially wanted to give the company 10 working days to remove the instrument, but Woolnorth Wind Farm wrote to the council ahead of the meeting and committed to remove the instrument by September 27.

Councillors backed a motion to ensure the company followed through on that commitment, which Cr Daniel Meade said kept kept the proponents accountable.

“It’s important to keep them accountable whether it be anemometers or traffic management plans,” Cr Meade said.

The Mount Fyans wind farm is proposed to have up to 87-turbines that could reach 200 metres in height.

Cr Doukas was alerted to the expired five-year permit by residents near the wind farm.

He said 900 people had signed a petition to oppose the wind farm, along with others in the shire.

“What we need to do is look at all the other wind farms that have these towers up and see if they’ve overstayed their timeline,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the motion nothing would have happened.”

The council has determined to oppose any more wind farms in the shire until the state government adopts national wind farm commissioner recommendations made in 2017.

A Woolnorth Wind Farm spokesman confirmed the tower would be decommissioned and removed.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/08/29/moyne-shire-council-requests-woolnorth-wind-farm-removes-anemometer-from-proposed-mount-fyans-site/