$1.7 BILLION WIND FARM BID

Bid for massive wind farm site in Golden Plains

THE largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere would be built in the Golden Plains Shire under a $1.7 billion plan.

WestWind Energy has lodged an application to install up to 235 turbines across large tracts of land around Rokewood and Barunah Park, about 60km northwest of Geelong.

The massive venture would have the ability to produce enough electricity to power more than 450,000 homes.

The Gisborne-based company said the wind farm would provide the 39 affected landholders with a combined $3.5 million each year.

Homes within 3km of a turbine would receive free green energy, while a community fund would provide up to $235,000 annually to support local projects. Progress on the Golden Plains wind farm comes amid a boom period for the sector, which has been buoyed by the creation of a Victorian renewable energy target of 40 per cent by 2025.

It has led to predictions that Victoria will overtake South Australia as the country’s leading host of turbines within the next five years.

However the industry’s expansion has become a political issue, with the state Opposition believing the Government is trying to remove the public’s ability to influence wind farm projects.

Western Victoria MP Simon Ramsay said five times as many turbines would be needed if the Government was to have renewables provide 40 per cent of the state’s energy within eight years.

“The government knows this can’t be done unless it rides roughshod over local people and their traditional rights,” he said.

Mr Ramsay said a Bill before State Parliament aimed to hand full control for wind farm decisions to the planning minister. “In my region, I cannot think of anything more divisive,” he said.

A public forum was held in Hawkesdale last week, amid concerns about a potential influx of turbines from three approved and two proposed wind farms.

WestWind has already built a 64-turbine wind farm at nearby Mt Mercer. It sold its approved Lal Lal project to Macquarie Capital earlier this year and Moorabool Wind Farm to Goldwind in 2016.