A map of the Rochester, Kyabram and Rushworth areas, showing, in blue, the areas of interest for the wind farms. Source: Fera Australia
About 250 people crowded into the Nanneella public hall on July 1 to hear Italian company Fera Australia outline its plans for one or possibly two wind farms in the region.
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The speakers, Fera Australia director Andrew Lawson and senior project manager Cristiano Diaz, battled through the interjections and impromptu questions for more than two hours.
They outlined the half-billion dollar project pathway, which could take up to four years, and described how the project fitted with the national drive towards renewables.
The proposed project could power up to 200,000 homes.
Speakers in the crowd raised issues including the removal of the turbines at the end of their working life, noise generated by the turbines, visual impact on the landscape and compensation to the landholders and neighbours.
One woman told the meeting there were eight residents within 3km of the proposed area.
Fera Australia senior project manager Cristiano Diaz explains technical aspects of the proposal.
Fera Australia promised to establish a community consultative committee and to bring an acoustic expert to address a community meeting in the future.
“This is very much the start of the project,” Mr Lawson told the meeting.
“We wanted to give people the opportunity to hear what we were thinking.”
He said there were no agreements in place as yet, however, he disclosed that preliminary discussions had been held with some property owners about 12 months ago, and they had already met with Landcare members.
One speaker pointed out that Nanneella is not in a Renewable Energy Zone, geographic areas identified by the Victorian Government as preferred locations for solar and wind farms.
Fera Australia is also trying to establish a wind farm in the Strathbogie Ranges, but is facing opposition from a community group.
Mr Lawson said a total of 14 properties had been signed up in the Strathbogies.
Fera Australia director Andrew Lawson answered questions from residents.
Photo by
Geoff Adams
Mr Diaz said the Fera company had been building wind generators for 20 years in Europe.
One of the local community members told the meeting: “We have been farming this land for almost 200 years. We don’t want someone to come along and stuff it up.”
Speaking after the meeting, farmer Wendy Ingram, who lives near the zone identified for a possible wind farm, had a number of concerns.
Although the energy company says they have only begun preliminary investigations, Ms Ingram believes it may already be a done deal, and there is nothing the residents can do about it.
She is worried about noise and vibration from the turbines.
She noted that her road is close to the route identified as a pathway for a high voltage interconnector between the Nanneella-Koyuga wind farm and the proposed Rushworth wind farm.
Ms Ingram, who has a beef and cropping farm, intends to seek more detail from Fera Australia.
Catherine Frankland lives in Graham Rd and hopes the company will return to run another community meeting.
“There was a lot of information to process. Some of it was a little complicated.”
She said it was clear that some people at the meeting wanted to learn about the project and some were definitely opposed.
Among the crowd at the Fera Australia presentation was one of the Fera company’s founders, Cesare Fera. Mr Fera has moved his family to Melbourne and taken Australian citizenship. His company built 15 wind farms in Europe.
The Nanneella hall was filled with displays describing the project.
Cristiano Diaz, from Fera Australia, listens to the debate about the project during a slide presentation.
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