UNION Fenosa Wind Australia (UFWA), the Australian subsidiary of Spanish energy major Gas Natural Fenosa, held the first Community Consultative Committee (CCC) meeting for its Paling Yards Wind Farm project proposal in Oberon on 17 July 2014.
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The Paling Yards project proposes up to 55 wind turbines, with a maximum blade tip height of 175m and a total installed capacity of approximately 178MW.
Paling Yards is located at the southern edge of the Oberon Shire on the Oberon-Goulburn Road.
The CCC was attended by Jim Hawkes, Kathy Sajowitz, John Morgan, Neil Francis and Jill Evans representing the community and the Council, together with UFWA representatives Tom Mitchell (Legal Manager) and Shaq Mohajerani (Planning Manager).
The Council’s Planning and Development Director Gary Wallace attended the meeting as an observer.
UFWA’s representative, Tom Mitchell said that “the CCC is a forum for Union Fenosa to update the community and Council about the project’s progress”.
The public exhibition period recently finished and 22 submissions were received. \
These include 11 community submissions, of which 10 were classified as objections to the project, and 11 comments from government agencies.
The 10km target zone for the community engagement program includes 164 mailing addresses.
The Paling Yards area has very low settlement density, a topography that hides a view of the Paling Yards valley to many residences, and an excellent wind resource, so the number of objections were expected to be low.
The committee started its discussion by talking about each member’s background, and their hopes for the committee.
The committee includes local business people, the local RFS Area Captain for the Paling Yards area and councillors.
They expressed their interest and concern for a “well-planned project from planning to decommissioning”, a “project that maximises local economic benefit for Oberon Shire”, and to create a project of “engineering beauty”.
Union Fenosa committed to examining siting options for a safe driver pull-over area for a viewing platform, given the narrowness of the verges on the winding section of the Oberon-Goulburn Road around Paling Yards.
UFWA is looking to expand the membership of its CCC, and is inviting further nominations to join the committee.
Further information about the project proposal is available on UFWA’s website www.unionfenosa.com.au, and UFWA can be contacted to answer questions on Freecall 1800 457 181 or by email to info@unionfenosa.com.au.