Winterbourne Wind Farm

I generally support the proposal. However, the relocation of some of the turbines would greatly reduce the environmental impact of the proposal. See my attached submission for details.

We deserve a sustainable future where we do not take more than we give back to the environment. Projects like this help our country move in the right direction.

I’m writing to register my objection to the wind tower/solar project being proposed for our local region.
I was born and have lived most of my life in the hustle and bustle of Sydney and only in the last 3 years I decided it was time to move out into the Walcha area as nothing beats the serenity of a rural setting.
I sold what I had in Sydney and bought some farmland in the Walcha area and I’m currently running cattle on the property.
The idea was to buy some farmland to get away from the city life, sirens and noisy neighbours.
I am totally opposed to the development and there is evidence globally of the impact of such developments disrupting farm productivity and causing adverse health issues. I do not believe the short-term economic advantages to the few will outweigh the overall social impact on our community.
One of the biggest downsides of wind energy is the noise and visual pollution. Wind turbines can be noisy when operating, as a result of both the mechanical operation and the wind vortex that’s created when the blades are rotating. Additionally, because wind turbines need to be built up high enough to capture a good amount of wind, the turbines can often interrupt otherwise scenic landscapes, such as mountain ranges, lakes, and more.
I moved out of Sydney to get well away from all this pollution to only find that the Walcha region is not going to be the peaceful serenity of a rural setting.

I support this development for the future of my kids. I am a landholder who has signed a contract with the developer as a host to receive wind towers. This will be a great financial benefit to our business and will ensure that this business will be sustainable well into the future, not only for us but for our children.
After the devastating 2018 - 2019 drought it became evident that our business needed to diversify to produce part of it's income away from agriculture. These towers will enable us to generate an income year round regardless of the seasonal conditions, reducing our risk, increasing our viability and sustainability.
The added value of the community fund mustn't be overlooked as it's ongoing value to community groups will be a great asset.

Green energy is important for the planet, as it replaces the negative effects of fossil fuels with more environmentally-friendly alternatives, like wind energy. We need more green energy to keep our planet alive. So the more wind farms the better.

This project would be of great benefit to the local area. I am a wind turbine technician working for Vestas Australia at sapphire wind farm near Inverell NSW. The Winterbourne Wind farm would give me the opportunity to stay with Vestas and move closer to my friends and family in the local area I grew up. I am Looking forward to seeing this project get off the ground and Australia heading towards a renewable future.

Australia needs more wind and renewable energy projects, and decrease its reliance on the traditional forms of electricity generation (i.e. coal) which is dirty, ruins the environment and pollutes the atmosphere. The effect of global warming is now clear, with ever worsening bushfires, floods (Lismore just recently had the biggest flood in its history), summer heatwaves (each successive summer seems to be hotter than the previous one) and the destruction of trees and the habitat which they support. For the sake of all our futures, we need to stop mining coal now, we need to shut down all coal burning electric generation plants now, and we need to switch all our forms of energy to renewable forms. For all these reasons, I fully support the Winterbourne Wind Farm.

The proposition of this Wind Farm is a good idea. It eliminates the need for further coal mines in the NSW region and will allow a quicker transition from fossil fuels to decelerate climate change in the country. On top of the transition, the idea of moving from a finite energy source to an infinite energy source is an obvious move, and Australia is currently behind much of the world in this area.
The project will bring in 400 jobs focused on renewables, will bring infrastructure upgrades to the region, and once complete, the project will be able to supply up to 375,000 homes with clean energy.
On top of this, the Walcha community will have an influx of workers which will boost their economy. Millions of dollars will be spent in regional NSW and help out local cafes, bakeries, pubs and shops in the community.
This will also help the NSW State Gov. reach their 2030 emission reduction targets.

I object very strongly to the proposed Winterbourne Windfarm installation.
119 Turbines would bring many issues – these are my reasons:
1. AGRICULTURE. This Walcha district produces food. Good food. It is prime agricultural land and there is not anymore of it being made. Our Earth is finite – our Earth population is not – 8 billion at the last count and increasing. We need to preserve good agricultural land to feed people. Walcha has excellent pastureland.
2. DEGRADATION of farm areas due to access for installations, maintenance, erection of high voltage, very large power lines through the whole area, and so many trucks and transport vehicles moving almost everything to sites, extra roads, being a loss of agricultural land.
3. BIOSECURITY issues, with any people able to access the land on which the turbines are being constructed and the possibility of weeds, disease and other difficulties (gates left open,etc).
4. CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS – The foundations for the turbines consume “600 – 900 cubic.metres of concrete for each turbine. Details are on page 61 (the 96th page of the document) of the EIS. Each cubic metre of Standard concrete weighs typically between 2.3 and 2.4t per M3. Each M3 of concrete needs 2 tonnes of gravel/sand mix. This will need an enormous number of trucks just for the concrete alone,
5. WATER - where will the water come from for all this concrete? It cannot be accessed from Walcha’s domestic supply, nor farm dams (personal and stock use only). Will THAT be carted in as well? If so, then there will be more trucks and more disruption.
6. TRANSPORT - Transport of everything needed for a windfarm will create huge disruption not just to normal traffic, but also the first responders in an emergency – police, fire, SES, ambulance and so on. All these movements will also impact our community’s own normal and necessary transport – transport of stock, fertiliser, other farm needs School buses, necessary trips to medical appointments and so on. For this district to operate successfully, t is vitally important that freight services are maintained and not held up by the windfarm transports. Our roads will be compromised, and though the developers say they will fix the roads who will decide if or when, and, indeed, how much “fixing”’ is necessary?
7. REIMBURSEMENT TO NEIGHBOURS AND COMMUNITY – Mr Landfear (project director of the Winterbourne Wind Project) in October emailed that no money would be paid to neighbours from the Community Benefit Fund (CBF), yet Table 6.2 od the Social Impact Assessment states, “Neighbours and the wider community will also receive financial benefits through establishment of the CBF” When Mr Landfear was asked again, the answer was “No”. See EIS Appendix A of the Social Impact Assessment (Page 60 of Appendix A of Appendix R) What and who do we believe?
8. TIME – 25 TO 30 years is very short term for an installation of this size, the enormous cost, then the decommissioning will mean a similar disruption all over again at huge cost. It makes no sense.
8. SECRECY AND COMMUNITY DIVISION – This is possibly the most important point. Whilst 119 turbines may seem acceptable, originally the number was much less, and I supported the concept. HOWEVER on delving further into how it would all actually work, I found many inconsistencies and a seeming lack of openness on the developer’s part. There was secrecy and people signed an option which gave them $1,000, BUT they were not allowed to discuss the windfarm proposition with anyone. That secrecy divided the community. What was there to hide? We now have a community divided and I find it so very sad, as Walcha is and was a wonderful, caring, cohesive community – something not understood in the city. I fear that this proposal will produce wounds that cannot be healed in our wonderful Walcha community.
This is the tip of the iceberg. If the Renewable Energy Zone is implemented with a possible 800 turbines in the Walcha area, we are doomed (and so is agriculture in this area). Where is the sanity in that? I cannot understand the thinking behind this. The community was unaware of this REZ until a couple of months ago, and this decision was made with NO consultation to Walcha Council, let alone the community which will feel its impact hugely. WE NEED AGRICULTURE IN THIS PRIME AGRICULTURAL AREA
There are much better ways to implement renewable energy without the huge disruption to so much of our agricultural – food supplying – land, and the life changes to so many people. Possibly alternatives may be even cheaper – for example smaller community “hubs” (being developed at present), with smaller turbines and solar panels; putting turbines at the coastal places or offshore nearer where the electricity is needed and does not impact agricultural communities (also avoiding the “trickle loss”), putting turbines where there is already the infrastructure – e.g. the existing wind installation between Bathurst and Mudgee, or considering hydro and nuclear, which could use the existing infrastructure where the Coal fired stations exist, after they are closed
WHY does not EVERY commercial premises, and most homes in EVERY city have solar panels on every roof where electricity is most needed? The agricultural footprint is already lost here.
For all these reasons, I have no option but to object to this proposal in the strongest terms.

I must object in the strongest possible terms to the proposed construction of the Winterbourne Wind Farm in the Walcha region for the following reasons, particularly related to AVIATION.

I have been involved with agricultural aviation in the Walcha district for about 35 years, and general flying for over 50 years in the Walcha region.

If these wind turbines are allowed to be built, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to spread fertiliser by air, due to the size and density of the turbines. The aeroplane would have to climb to over 1000 feet (304 Metres) above ground level to spread fertiliser, instead of the normal spreading height of 100 (30 Metres) to 150 feet (46 metres), which would make the whole operation inefficient and expensive. Fertiliser is so important for pasture in this area.

I have identified 38 airstrips in the area close to the proposed wind farm, and I have worked off almost all of these (the others were used by an opposing aerial company). See Airstrips photo, which shows each airstrip as a red X.

The construction of turbines will make this type of operation virtually impossible (see proposed turbine map attached from Winterbourne Wind of the same area as the depicted airstrips) and please note how close the airstrips are to the proposed turbines. In the EIS there were very few agricultural airstrips noted as being affected by turbines.

Aerial spraying of weeds is another essential service, and the construction of turbines would make this virtually impossible, as the aircraft is only a few feet above the ground. The areas where turbines are planned are often inaccessible for ground equipment, especially in a wet year like this. This would mean the land would be much less productive and could even revert back to what it was many years ago. All this in a time when we are being told to become more efficient in order to feed the world. This is prime agricultural land.

Then there is the issue of aerial firefighting. With reduced visibility, it would be next to impossible to fight fires from the air in amongst the turbines or nearby, and National Parks are nearby.

Helicopter medical retrievals, around Walcha would be impacted adversely, putting people’s lives in danger. These are a regular occurrence and would be even more hazardous, and particularly dangerous at night.

General aviation, which is charter and flying training etc would be made more difficult with turbines as there would be much less margin for safety with them nearly 1000 feet above ground level. As the Walcha area is on the direct track from Tamworth and the west, to the east coast, this would cause considerable safety concerns when weather become a factor with low cloud on the escarpment – where the turbines will be. The EIS states that the turbines will have muted colours-
This is on page 179 of Appendix J (Traffic Impact Assessment)
The turbines will have a light grey (RAL 7035) finish. The following factors have been considered in the Project design to achieve a visual consistency through the landscape: ■ Uniformity in the colour, design, rotational speed, height, and rotor diameter ■ The use of simple muted colours and non-reflective materials to reduce distant visibility and avoid drawing the eye ■ Blades, nacelle, and tower to appear as the same colour ■ Avoidance of unnecessary lighting, signage, logos
This lack of distant visibility, whilst preferable for the general public is NOT good for aviation.

Aside from the aviation problems, there are many other issues and unanswered questions, some of which are listed below:

It would seem that the towers and blades will be imported and most of the profits exported to an off shore company. What does Australia REALLY get?

25 years is very short term for the amount of money being spent and the huge disruption to Walcha in so many ways.

Transport, with so many HUGE towers and blades travelling our highways and small roads will cause enormous disruption and waiting times for these monsters to pass, not to mention deterioration of the roads. Over what period will the developers repair the roads? Added to that are the gravel and sand trucks (1,600 T of sand/gravel) for EACH turbine for 800 cubic metres of concrete for EACH turbine. Add to that erection crews travelling back and forth to accommodation outside Walcha, as there is not enough accommodation available in Walcha, nor is there extra employment opportunity, as tradesmen at present are very hard to get without a long wait.

Water. For all the concrete needed, water is a great problem. It will not be accessed from Walcha’s domestic water supply, nor farm dams which are for stock and domestic use. To sink bores may well affect the aquifer for surrounding farms. How can the water issue be managed? Will it be carted in?

For all these reasons, and more, I object to the proposed Winterbourne wind farm installation.

Having owned rural property in the Walcha district we moved away some 25 years ago due to the need to find off farm work. This project will delivery opportunities to the regional community whilst at the same time deliver much needed green energy to the east coast Grid. The area proposed is suitable for this project and not as arable nor as fertile as the balance of the region. As such this is a prime site to look at alternative revenue streams outside of traditional agriculturtal pursuits. Revenues recieved will only enhance the values of the district and should see a reversal in the decline of the local population as commercial opportunities arise from this project. This project will contribute to the governments Net Zero policy and without mulitiple larges scale green energy projects such as this, that policy will never be achieved. This is only one of many projects that needs to be commenced to enable to Net Zero journey to be a reality. We will not be able to maintian our electricaity demand and move away from coal and be competitive on the global manufacturing stage, wihtout these projects. As stated this is just one of many that is required but if it's approved its one more that will reduce our dependance on coal fired power stations and take us a step further to Net Zero.

I object to the Winterbourne Windfarm in Walcha.

With the political climate in Australia, we are never going to see Nuclear energy get across the line in the near future, and with coal and gas also on the outer, what other viable options does that leave us as a Community and as a Nation. Energy projects like this are important not just for the district but for the entire State/Country moving forward. As our energy demands continue to rise, putting an increasing demand on an already struggling network, we need other viable alternatives like this project.

I don’t believe Walcha should have these turnbines because of the impact on our wildlife and the eye sore they will create also I believe the noise they will generate will be detrimental to general well being of the towns folk nearby, I believe the natural beauty of the gorges should be left untouched and remain that way for future generations to enjoy! It will have a negative impact on the town as I believe people will not move here and some will sell up and leave as the turbines have created disharmony amongst what was once a very close community minded town that looked out for their own. Our livestock and lively hood are also at risk! Walcha should not be the area considered for these turbines! it needs to be stopped asap !

I object to the Winterbourne wind farm, I believe this project will have a negative impact on our town our native animals our livestock and our lively hood! Walcha should not have to shoulder the burden of supplying energy to a large percentage of NSW! Our town relies heavily on tourism and the turbines will become an eye sore and ruin the natural beauty of our gorges. This project needs to be stopped!