City Link

Aug 7, 2023

on Monday. Fera Australia boss Andrew Lawson is a former director of Melbourne’s City Link and also played a key role in the development of the city’s Docklands precinct. Eamon Gallagher The unprecedented rules imposed by Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny on the controversial 400-megawatt Willatook wind farm north of Port Fairy shocked the renewable energy sector, which is already struggling with cost inflation, social licence problems and slow approvals and connections for projects. The conditions intended to protect the brolga – an iconic indigenous crane famed for its dancing rituals that is threatened in Victoria – and the 55-milimetre-long, cave-dwelling southern bent-wing bat include wider buffer zones around wind turbines that effectively cut by almost two-thirds the number of turbines that could be installed at the site. Advertisement They also impose a five-month ban on construction work at the site every year, which Ben Purcell, managing director in Australia of project developer Wind Prospect, said “just can’t happen” given the required deployment of 300-400 people and major crane equipment at the site that cannot be just set aside. Mr Lawson is overseeing Fera’s plans for a 600-megawatt wind farm near Seymour, about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne, as well as a 24-megawatt farm at Wombelano, in Victoria’s far north-west, and another in Tasmania. While unaware of the finer details of Willatook and its possible impact on brolgas and bats, he said wind farm projects across the state faced regulatory hurdles and pushback from locals which could destabilise the state’s ambitious renewable energy targets. “There’s a lot more layers of investigation for a wind or energy project than for a freeway,” the former City Link director said. “It’s very hard to build like they’re suggesting [at Willatook] because there’s only 20 cranes in Australia that are capable of lifting turbines of that size. You can’t just bring it in and send it away for six months ... moving it costs about $1 million. So when you’re doing things like that, I can understand why people looking at the permit are going: ‘How do we manage this?’ “In terms of the regulatory stuff ... I think transport infrastructure and energy projects should be equal. City Link was a $2 billion project and these sorts of wind projects are typically $1 billion to $1.5 billion of investment. Advertisement “Everyone comes in and looks at the birds, and they are important, but that is manageable. I’d much prefer to spend $1 million building up habitats.” A spokesman for the Victorian government rejected the suggestion that the ruling imperils targets for emissions reduction and renewables if the conditions were applied to other projects. “These assessments are made on a case-by-case basis, and we continually work to ensure we are striking the right balance between planning for the renewable energy capacity we need and supporting biodiversity,” he said. Victoria is aiming for 65 per cent renewables use by 2030 and 95 per cent by 2035 under updated targets announced last October. Moyne Shire Council, which includes the Willatook wind farm site, wants the Victorian government to stop issuing wind farm planning permits in its area until strategic land use planning in the state’s designated South West Renewable Energy Zone is completed in consultation with affected councils and communities. The Willatook site lies in a Victorian government-designated renewable energy zone , with easy access to an existing 500kV transmission line. The conditions set by Ms Kilkenny require larger buffer zones around turbines that would reduce the number of turbines on the site from 59 to 18. Advertisement “Balancing policy outcomes to support both the transition to renewable energy and environmental protections was a key focus of the minister’s determinations,” a Moyne council spokesman said. “Council is pleased to see that she gives due consideration to protecting the importance of the Warrnambool airport, supports the establishment of an on-site quarry and provides detailed recommendations, if a permit is issued, to ensure local roads are fit for purpose. It is disappointing that more weight was not given to council’s position on cumulative impacts, undergrounding new transmission infrastructure and landscape impacts.” Opposition energy and resources spokesman David Hodgett said: “We need consistency in planning laws, and realistic, achievable and affordable environmental targets.” Liberal MP Roma Britnell, whose electorate covers the Willatook site, said she was pleased that “long-held” community concerns about the brolgas had been heard by the state government. “There have been too many examples of this government running roughshod over the communities in an effort to meet their aggressive and unrealistic targets,” she said. Gus McCubbing is a journalist at the Australian Financial Review in Melbourne. Connect with Gus on Twitter . Email Gus at gus.mccubbing@afr.com Save