The Supreme Court has quashed a community challenge to the 200MW Delburn Wind Farm, paving the way for the 33 turbine project to go ahead in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley region.
Supreme Court Justice Melinda Richards ruled the state planning permit for Delburn Wind Farm is valid, after the Strzelecki Community Alliance (SCA) took the project to court.
The SCA, a group of “concerned residents and family members”, challenged the planning permit for the project in the Supreme Court, saying the wind farm was in a bushfire prone area and too close to local homes, with more than 5,000 residents living 5km from any one turbine.
Developer Osmi Australia says it now plans to get construction underway in 2024, with the project set to be the first wind farm in the coal power dominated Latrobe Valley and the first in Australia to be set in a plantation.
“We are now focused on getting on with building the wind farm and contributing to a much-needed transition to renewable energy for Latrobe Valley and Gippsland,” said Osmi director Pater Marriot in a statement.
“The Delburn Wind Farm will produce renewable energy, reduce carbon emissions, and create local employment.”
Plantation power
The project, approved last March by the Victorian planning minister, is proposed to sit amongst a pine plantation in the Strzelecki Ranges, overlooking the shuttered coal-fired Hazelwood Power Station.
Co-located wind farms and plantations are common in Europe, where the height of the turbines allows them to operate above the trees. NSW is seeking proposals for colocated wind farms on Forestry Corporation land, while in 2019 French developer Neoen proposed a 900 megawatt (MW) plantation-based wind farm in Victoria’s far west.
Friends of the Earth Melbourne community organiser Wendy Farmer says building a wind farm in a plantation site is an effective way to protect the natural environment, given the plantation is already a highly modified industrial site.
“Our energy system is changing, the Latrobe Valley has a proud history of energy production and it is great to see that the Valley will continue to play a part in Victoria’s energy production,” she said in a statement.
“As we look across from the old Hazelwood power station site and, to the south, the Yallourn power station now to the emerging wind farm, we are witnessing the energy transformation as it happens.”
Many hurdles
The project, which has the backing of London-based investor Cubico, has not been without its challenges.
It sits across three separate council areas and the original proposal was for a 300 MW wind farm with 53 turbines at a height of 250 metres.
The company had to revise the number of turbines down several times, landing on 33 with a capacity of 180-200 MW in 2020.
A big battery proposal for the site was rejected, on the grounds of the potential for it to be a fire risk.
But opposition to the wind farm has been consistent. A 160 metre-tall mesh-metal meteorological mast was vandalised and collapsed, and the SCA ramped up its campaign against what it says is an inappropriate development that is “too close to homes, too close to communities” and in a bushfire-prone area of the recently hard-hit Gippsland region.
The group claims to represent more than 300 local households, totalling more than 1000 individuals within the 3km radius of the wind farm.
It alleges up to 42 hectares of remnant native vegetation will be threatened during the construction phase and is concerned about turbines impeding bushfire fighting efforts and the visual and noise consequences on neighbours.
A background noise monitoring report by OSMI found that the predicted noise levels from the wind farm were below the base noise limit of 40 dB (decibel) LA90 at all receivers by at least 2.9-4.3 dB.
Osmi has been transparent about the legal and community challenges, live streaming its day in court and asking its opponents to share their concerns.
“We also want to hear from any residents who are concerned or opposed to the wind farm development – it’s not too late to discuss your concerns, ask questions and let us work with you to share information and understanding,” Marriot said.
