July 16, 2020
Australia, Letters

Wind farm and Marinus cable

Letters to the editor | The Examiner | July 15, 2020 | www.examiner.com.au

Alan Birchmore (The Examiner, July 6) is right to caution us about the Battery of the Nation and the push to have wind farms indiscriminately developed throughout Tasmania to provide power tot the mainland.

Victoria gains power – Tasmania wears the scars and pays dearly for the privilege.

The Central Highlands St Patricks Plains Wind Farm proposal has 67 turbines of 240-metres high (three times the height of Wrest Point) in an area promoted for three years by the government for its unique environment and world-class fishing and home to endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles and devils.

Surely such an iconic area should be a designated a “no go” zone with protection from wind turbine industrialisation.

Tasmanians are told we will be paying our “fair share” of Marinus, so it is highly unlikely our power prices will decrease.

Surely the new cable costs should be borne by energy operators (already receiving the government subsidy for renewable energy) in the same way all Tasmanian export producers have to pay for transportation costs to their markets. Why should taxpayers and future Tasmanian-based energy customers contribute to the cost of Marinus when the ultimate beneficiaries are the operators of the wind farms, the majority of whom are foreign owned?

David Ridley, No Turbine Action Group chairman.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/07/16/wind-farm-and-marinus-cable/