A community group behind plans for a stalled wind farm project near Woodend says the dream of a small-scale operation providing enough energy to power up to 4000 houses is edging closer to fruition.
Woodend Integrated Sustainable Energy (WISE) group spokesman Barry Mann said members were talking with the state government as it works to amend legislation that would pave the way for three turbines in a pine plantation about six kilometres south of the town.
He said the site had many attractive features including high wind speeds, good access and grid connectivity.
Located deep in a forest managed by Hancock Victorian Plantations, the site also has few issues with native flora and fauna or visual amenity. The nearest house is more than 1.5 kilometres away.
Mr Mann said the group and the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group were buoyed by the support of the Labor government, including Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas, with a Liberal ban on new wind projects being overturned and money provided for a solar farm at a nearby timber mill.
‘‘We were literally days away from starting when the last government banned new projects,” Mr Mann said. “That was four years ago.’’
Aside from legislation, other challenges remain. WISE will need to collect about a year’s worth of data, which will then have to be analysed before financing and planning efforts can begin.
If modelling is confirmed by measurement, the project will require a series of impact assessments and planning permits.
‘‘We are still looking at three to five years,’’ Mr Mann said. ‘‘But we’re a lot closer than we have been.’’
Help provided by those involved in a similar community-owned project near Daylesford has been invaluable.
So, too, has the work of Embark Australia, a privately-funded, non-profit organisation that is providing information and legal and engineering support to help groups such as WISE.
Mr Mann said the appetite of governments, companies and the public for renewable energy was greater than it was four years ago. An engineering group had offered WISE $10,000 to put up wind masts in exchange for data from the turbines.
‘‘Everyone’s getting on board now,” he said.
