Shepparton solar – the regional Victoria town is going to follow the trend of councils going renewable and install solar power at some of their local facilities, the Greater Shepparton City Council voted this week. The jury’s still out on a number proposed solar farms in Shepparton which are being opposed by some.
Shepparton solar – council investment.
Council solar has been a hot topic over the past 12 months and it’s fantastic to see the Greater Shepparton City Council following suit – Renew Economy are reporting that at a council meeting last week a $225,500 contract to install solar panels on multiple council buildings had been awarded to True Value Solar from Melbourne.
Cr Bruce Giovanetti made a statement about how important councils doing their part in utilising renewable energy is:
‘‘It’s great to see council is taking a proactive approach to ensuring we can reduce energy consumption costs as much as we can,’’ he said.
Shepparton Solar Farms
The Shepparton News are reporting that five solar farms in Shepparton have been proposed:
- Tatura East solar farm (45MW)
- Tallygaroopna solar farm (30MW)
- Lemnos solar farm (100MW)
- Congupna solar farm (68MW)
- Mooroopna solar farm (12MW)
These five farms total more than $300m of investment and will produce over 250MW of power for the area – but not everybody is happy about it.
According to Greater Shepparton Councillor Chris Hazelman:
‘We’ve heard the relevant objections from people nearby, which indicates concerns about the science, about amenity, about the alienation of agricultural land,”
Hazelman elaborated on how he thinks the dispute will end up in the courts:
‘‘And in the absence of (state government) guidelines, it would appear that regardless of what decision council makes, either for or against … it will inevitably end up in VCAT. It’s going to make it difficult.’’
We’ve heard the NIMBY argument about ‘prime agricultural land’ from ‘concerned residents’ before (remember Photon Energy’s Brewongle solar farm?) – so it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in court.
A spokesperson for Planning Minister Richard Wynne said the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning had prepared advice for the minister to consider, and he would make his ruling in due course.
You can read more detailed information about the solar farm planning permit applications by clicking here.
