Neoen’s Kentbruck Green Power Hub wind turbine proposal sparks opposition in Nelson 

An image produced by Neoen showing how the turbines would look from sand dunes at Swan Lake in the Discovery Bay Coastal Park. (Supplied: Neoen)

Residents and holiday home owners in the south-west Victorian town of Nelson say building the equal-tallest wind turbines in Australia among local pine plantations will harm the look and environment of the picturesque area.

But the Neoen, the company behind the Kentbruck Green Power hub proposal, says the height of the 270-metre-tall wind turbines means they will be out of the way of birds and bats.

Residents in Nelson have been circulating images of how the wind turbines compare to the tallest buildings in Australia.

The residents are encouraging people to lodge submissions on the proposal with the Victoria Department of Planning and Transport.

Consultation on the proposed $1.2-billion wind farm was due to end on Tuesday but was extended by Planning Panels Victoria until March 31 after Neoen made four changes to its more than 5,000-page environment effects statement.

The documents out for consultation now total more than 6,000 pages.

Wind farms featuring turbines of the same height – the tallest in the country – have been proposed or approved around Australia.

South-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia are home to a large number of wind turbines because of their windy weather and their location on an electricity interconnector between the two states.

Nelson is about four kilometres east of the SA-Victoria border and about 70 kilometres north-west of Portland.

‘It’s an affront’

Nelson resident Fran Thompson has been analysing the documents put out by Neoen and says the project is like a “great big punch in the stomach” for the town.

The closest of the 105 turbines would be about 5km east of Nelson.

“They impose on the landscape to a significant degree,” Ms Thompson said.

She also has concerns about their environmental impact.

“If you’re interested in wild places, if you’re interested in threatened species who rely on, for instance, Ramsar wetlands sites that we have quite close here, it’s an affront – it’s the only way I can say it,” Ms Thompson said.

Part-time Nelson resident Kim Kurray said people visited the area to get closer to nature.

“There’s plenty to see and do we don’t really need to be looking at these giant wind turbines,” she said.

Height advantage?

Neoen said three houses in Nelson would have a moderate-to-high visual impact from the wind turbines, along with the Swan Lake and Lake Mombeong campsites in the Discovery Bay Coastal Park.

Neoen Victoria state leader Alicia Webb said the project was “intentionally sited in a commercial pine plantation with relatively few neighbours living in surrounding areas to ensure very little impact on residents and native vegetation”.

“The minimum blade tip height of the turbines was adjusted from 45 metres above ground level to 60 metres following careful consideration of the local ecology, specifically to avoid and minimise the impact on native bird and bat species,” she said.

“The southern bent-wing bat, for example, most frequently flies at heights below 60 metres.”

The company said the additions to its environment effects statement were “administrative as opposed to substantive”.

The document says the wind farm will create 350 jobs during construction and support the ongoing operation of Portland’s aluminium smelter, which employs about 800 people directly and 1,600 people indirectly.

Employers eye jobs

The Committee for Portland represents the largest employers in the city and has been involved with a community advisory committee set up by Neoen.

Committee for Portland deputy chair John Weichert said Neoen appeared to have listened to the community and cited its proposal to reduce the number of turbines and install power lines underground.

“The reality is these are being constructed in a monoculture – in a pine plantation predominantly – and most people aren’t actually in the pine plantation, and what they would see from a visual distance is really not obtrusive, I wouldn’t have thought,” he said.

Mr Weichert said the committee wanted Neoen to commit to employing local contractors.

He said the project was important for the smelter to be able to export “green aluminium” in the future.