Council
5 May, 2023
Wind farm investments under review
MOYNE Shire Council will push prospective wind farm developers to meet a minimum community investment threshold before supporting any future developments.
Councillors resolved at last week’s Ordinary Meeting of Council to do further work and complete further consultation on a set of minimum benchmarks a wind farm company would be requested to provide the community in which they are operating.
Mayor Cr Karen Foster said wind farm companies already offer a range of community investment programs, but it was ad hoc and varied greatly between developments.
“At the moment we have some developments offering annual grants programs to the wider community as low as $300 a turbine and some as high as $3000 a turbine,” she said.
“There are also vast differences between what is happening across Moyne when compared to other areas of the state.
“We have said that there needs to be a level playing field for communities which are impacted by developments.
There’s no minimum standard set by the state government or industry, so council will use the guidelines to advocate for the best outcomes possible for host communities.”
Cr Foster said council would not become the beneficiary of these grant funds but was simply trying to establish a set of standards to ensure each community hosting a wind farm benefited at the same level.
“We aren’t proposing a fundamental change to how the programs operate now,” Cr Foster said.
“The companies would continue to work directly with the community to plan a suitable program, but we want those overall investments to reach a minimum standard so host communities are on a level playing field,” she said.
“Council has no decision-making role when it comes to approving wind farm planning permits or setting their conditions but we have a role in advocacy and will use these standards to help drive a better deal for our communities.”
Cr Foster added that council had already spoken with the Minister for Planning, Minister for Local Government and advisors to the Minister for Energy, Resources and Climate Actions about the need for such standards and would continue to advocate strongly on behalf of the community for better outcomes.
The decision came after Moyne Shire councillors voted in September last year to oppose future developments of wind farms until the Victorian Government carried out strategic planning, which would include a threshold on the number of turbines operating in the shire.
