MP Annabelle Cleeland has submitted a petition to parliament asking it to reconsider the location of the Cooba Solar Farm.
Photo by
Kyabram Free Press
A petition to relocate a proposed solar panel facility from Colbinabbin has been submitted by state Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland.
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Residents of Colbinabbin are urging the government to reconsider the location of the proposed Cooba Solar Facility, set for development by Canadian renewable energy developer Venn Energy Inc about 3km south of the town.
The proposed project consists of renewable energy development that will include a 500MW solar project and a 300MW Battery Energy Storage System.
The petition, which is up for public display on the Parliament of Victoria website, states that the proposed location — in the middle of the Heathcote wine geographic indicator and on the Eastern slope of Mt Camel range — is “highly arable agricultural land”.
For the petition to be considered by the Victorian Government, it needs 10,000 signatures; as of Tuesday, June 11, the petition had garnered over 450 signatures.
The petition, backed by Mrs Cleeland, was created with the aim of reclaiming valuable farmland.
“This is prime agricultural land that is an important contributor to the local economy, and it will be significantly impacted by adding over 740,000 eight-foot solar panels to it,” Mrs Cleeland said.
“We cannot allow large corporations to swoop into our communities, dismiss the concerns of the people, then take all the benefits offshore, leaving locals with nothing,” she said.
Mrs Cleeland highlighted the expansion of renewables across Victoria but called on the government to “prioritise listening to the impacted communities”.
The location of the Cooba Solar Farm has been proposed on “highly arable agricultural land” at Colbinabbin.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Colbinabbin Renewable Action Group chair John Davies noted that the opposition to the solar project had garnered significant local support.
“When you’re a small rural community and being faced with big government and big overseas developers, you can feel very much alone,” Mr Davies said.
“While we have limited resources, we have a steely determination to get this project voted down — and to do it without the support of local politicians would be totally impossible.
“We have the support because they understand the importance of this issue to the community.”
Mr Davies said the government required renewable energy developers to consult the community, but that in this case concerns fell on deaf ears.
“We’ve told them the issues we have with the project, and they haven’t addressed those concerns,” he said.
“On the flip side, the state government is mad keen because they are behind in their renewable targets, and it represents a bigger opportunity to get a leg up on their targets.”
The Cooba Solar Project website stated in its ‘About Us’ page: “Venn Energy is committed to sharing the economic benefits of the Cooba Solar Project with the Colbinnabin (sic) community and the neighbours of the project.”
A spokesperson from Venn Energy disputed the claims that concerns of the community were ignored.
“Venn’s consultation with the Colbinabbin community began two years ago and is ongoing, and the team has already held several meetings with a number of community members including direct neighbours to the proposed project site, government representatives including local council, and community organisations ... During this time, any concerns that have been raised have been addressed,” the spokesperson said.
“We understand a petition against the project is being circulated within the Colbinabbin community, and we recognise residents have a right to voice their concerns.”
The spokesperson said the proposed project site had been “carefully selected by planning experts” and was already “heavily disturbed by previous cultivation and cropping”.
They said agricultural use of the land would continue, with sheep grazing projected to continue on the site of the project, and when the project was decommissioned, the land would return to its current state.
The spokesperson said the project would “bring economic benefits” to the community through “diversification of income and industry in region, the creation of approximately 250 jobs during construction, procurement of local goods and services, and a dedicated Community Benefit Fund of $200,000 per year to create a meaningful and sustainable economic impact”.
“Wine regions around the world are embracing renewable energy as a means of reducing energy cost in alignment with their continued environmental commitment,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that the agricultural impact study, as a part of the planning application, which will include several special studies, will be available for public viewing during the statutory notification period and is expected “in the coming weeks”.
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