Although I do not live in the area in question, I wish to encourage the development of alternative forms of energy and wind farms are certainly a step in the right direction

I support this application to support landholders rights to have renewable energy on their property rather than coal or csg. This will also encourage investment and reduce additional coal field development.

I strongly support the proposed Wind Farm at Rye Park.

I have kept up-to-date with all documentation provided by Trustpower and its predecessor, and have read many of the submissions on the NSW Government website. I have visited the Trustpower Office in Yass and have looked at the simulations of views of the towers from different locations.

I own two properties in the village of Rye Park and will be able to see some of the turbines from those properties. I consider them to be visually attractive and the equivalent of many of the sculptures that make up the urban art in our cities.
Alternative energies must be the way forward for a developed economy and community like Australia, yet we have too many opponents to this on what I consider to be poor reasoning. Joe Hockey's comments were a prime example. Would he really consider more open cut coal mines and accompanying developments as seen in the Hunter Valley to wind turbines and no resulting air pollution?

The only small concern I have to the proposal is due to the attitude of some workers during construction, not the turbines themselves, any noise, or environmental impacts.
As long as the eventual contractors are careful with shutting gates they move through, weed control, erosion and other matters that impact on the economic viability of the farmers, I have no problems with the proposed development going ahead. Indeed I would welcome it as an assistance to reducing global warming and adding substantially to the economic well-being of the community in which the turbines would be erected. How else can a farmer on the hilly (inferior) country effectively drought-proof their property?

Speaking as a Rye Park resident that will not benefit financially from the development, the improvements I would like to see in our community amenity are two fold:
1. seal the balance of the road between Rye Park and Yass (the bit in Upper Lachlan Shire); and
2. get better mobile phone reception for the Rye Park Village.

I am hoping that both these developments will need to be achieved for efficient construction of the Wild Farm.

I support Clean energy Wind farms

While I don't live in the Rye Park area, I have several friends who do and am aware or the location of the proposed wind farm.

I support any opportunity to provide Australia with clean, renewable energy and believe that a wind farm in the Rye Park area could do this with very little impact on the surrounding community.

I very much like to see this proposal go ahead

I wish to make a submission against the proposed wind farm at Rye Park. I feel the answers and variations from the original submissions didn't adequately address my concerns.

Whie I no longer live at Rye Park, I own property that is within 1 km distance from the nearest proposed turbine. (cemetary Rd) I frequently visit this property and am concerned about the negative impacts this wind farm is likely to have on the area and it's residents.
While the amended plan has reduced the number of turbines and has relocated others, I have the following concerns
1. . I am concerned about the noise and flicker that is associated with wind turbines. The nearest turbines to the cemetary at Rye Park are still very close to the farm houses in that area.
2. A large wind farm will inevitably change the rural character of the area and cause property values to fall.
3. Cemetary Road will be used to gain access to some of the wind farm site. The large trucks required to transport the turbine components will mean that trees along this road will have to be cleared to create enough room for them. This is one of the few remaining remnant native vegetation areas left and will result in a significant loss of native habitat. This loss of vegetation will also greatly affect the visual amenity of the area.
4. The soils in the designated wind farm site are shallow skeletal soils. They are quite rocky and are easily eroded due to their poor structure and the steep slopes found in the area. Any disturbance to soils during construction will cause significant damage. It will also cause siltation of the gullies and streams in the affected area. Any rehabilitation work is likely to be ineffective as was the case when a natural gas pipeline was put through the district some 40 years ago. The scars of this work can still be seen today.
It seems that many of the problems associated with the construction phase have not been adequately addressed and remediation works not outlined.

This has to be stopped. Please don't destroy the surrounding farmers lives and families.

Wind farms in this region should NOT go ahead. It's simply a perception that the Government of the day is creating 'greener' energy paths.
There are heavy subsidies payed to the owners of the wind generators annually, which are sourced from the end user, artificially inflating electricity costs. These costs are hardly published.
This technology is OLD and the 'least efficient' of renewable energy options. Solar should the key focus.
Reading the noise impact statement is frighting - "Oh wow" the turbines only run at 40dB - are you kidding, it would be like living near a freeway.
Hundreds of turbines scattered along the ridge lines would look unsightly.

Wind farms are not only extremely expensive to put in but are absolutely awful to look at. they destroy what is a beautiful Australian landscape. It has been proven that this type of power production is extremely expensive and has a short life expectancy with very high maintenance costs.
Why cant they put in a solar farm like they have successfully at Nyngan and in Western Australia. This has a long life expectancy and isn't near as expensive to put in and maintain.
Wind turbines are actually very noisy to the people that own farms in the near vicinity.
As a tax payer i can not accept that this has been thought through enough and that all viable options have been considered.

RYE PARK WIND FARM PROJECT:

I wish to submit my approval of this project for the following reasons:

We live in a neighbouring village which will benefit from this proposal from extra casual employment during the building phase and $300,000 of each year will be paid directly to community organisations through the legislated Community Enhancement Fund contribution which will help enormously the infrastructure of the area.

There will be 39 full time ongoing jobs available providing more people working in the community which will ensure the future of local schools and sporting teams and means more money being spent in the community - which stimulates business and creates more jobs.

There will be 109 turbines on the ridges and in the valleys surrounding our area which will generate 1,192 Gigawatt hours (GWh) per annum. This is enough electricity to power 130,000 homes, the equivalent of removing 260,000 cars. The carbon footprint is estimated to be paid back in nine months.

Rye Park's strong and consistent wind makes a wind farm an efficient use of
agricultural land. A solar farm would need to cover about 750 ha's with solar panels to
produce the same amount of energy as this project. By contrast, this project impacts
just 100 ha's of the total project site of 13,500 ha's.

The financial resilience of the local farming economy will be increased and help farmers manage periods of drought and fickle commodity prices.

The construction of the wind farm and associated infrastructure will have negligible
impact on continued grazing activities. The wind farm will mostly use existing farm
tracks and virtually all electrical cabling within the wind farm will run underground. Using the ridges and valleys will minimize the visual impact of the towers.

Unlike coalburning power plants, wind farms use no water in their operation, leaving
local rivers and creeks untouched.

The developer is required to make good on any road damage incurred through the
construction period. Experience from other wind farms in Australia strongly indicates
that local council roads are actually improved by the presence of a wind farm.