Synergy Wind’s wind farm that was proposed for Devon North, near Yarram in South Gippsland, has had an extension of its planning approval rejected by the Wellington Shire Council. This is the first wind farm to fall due to the requirement to renew or extend planning approvals under the new laws, and unfortunately there may be more to come quite soon.

We will track these setbacks as they occur, and will soon update our assessment of just how much the 2011 anti-wind policy is costing Victoria in jobs and investment dollars.

The following is from the Gippsland Times article (by journalist David Braithwaite):

In 2007 the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted Synergy Energy a planning permit to develop the wind farm at Devon North after appealing Wellington Shire Council’s initial rejection of its application.

The permit was due to expire last December as work on the site had not begun, but in November Synergy applied to council to have the deadline pushed back to March.

A decision by council had been delayed so it could receive information regarding the impact of new State Government guidelines for wind farms and issues of tenure on the land.

Council has since been advised that all agreements between Synergy and the owner of the land had been terminated in December.

Under the new government guidelines, written consent is needed from all residents living within a two kilometre radius of turbines.

When the original application was being made, all residents with 2km were notified, with 20 letters of objection received which would have led to the proposal being rejected under today’s
guidelines.

The impact on the amenity of the area was a major factor in opposition to the turbines.

Another reason behind council’s decision not to extend the permit was that the wind farm proposal had not been assessed against current noise standards and guidelines.