A media squall engulfed the 677 megawatt (MW) Navarre wind project last week over the issue of land clearing, and the impact on the work of a long-established Landcare group, but the company behind the proposal says it’s already cut turbines from the design to mitigate the damage.
An-already sour relationship with some locals at the western Victoria site intensified last week after a report in the Murdoch media’s Herald Sun saying the project will clear 127.5 hectares of native vegetation.
The report particularly stung locals as the general area is where a farmer-led conservation effort has been underway for nearly 40 years.
But the new owner of the project says the design was already being refined to reduce that figure, which was from a flora and fauna report lodged with the original 2023 planning application.
“We have since changed the project design layout to protect more native vegetation by removing some potential wind turbines and moving others as a result of the Aurecon report,” said a spokesperson from HMC Capital.
“Final numbers are not currently available on native vegetation because we are progressing further environmental studies and continuing to improve the design.”
Those plans also include a 600 MW, two hour battery.
Furthermore, there are no options available in the area on the Victorian Native Vegetation Credit Register to offset that level of clearing, meaning the first step will be to ensure as few offsets are needed.
“Securing appropriate offset … will be done after the design is further improved to protect the local environment. We are making arrangements to offset any residual impacts, but the first step is minimising any potential clearing,” they said.
HMC Capital says an alternative to the lack of local offsets available is to buy land and replant that.
The Navarre green energy hub, as it’s known, was part of the parcel of operating and development projects that Neoen Australia was obliged to sell when it was bought by Brookfield last year.
The assets were snapped by HMC Capital’s new multi-billion fund, which is chaired by former prime minister Julia Gillard.
Local conservation efforts
The reports of major native vegetation clearing was particularly salty for the Navarre community, given it is the home of the Winjallok Landcare Group, a farmer-led entity has been working on land rehabilitation for nearly four decades and the first of not-for-profit conservative organisation Landcare’s groups.
Tom Small, secretary treasurer of the Winjallok Landcare Group, and speaking to Renew Economy as a direct neighbour of the proposal project, said he’d spent the last 25 years planting some 100,000 trees in green corridors and along streams.
“This is a terrible place to site a wind farm. It is placed between national parks and conservation reserves with high biodiversity and conservation value. Habitat to swift parrots, barking owls and other endangered plants and animals,” he said in an email.
The original design by engineering firm Aurecon tucked the two wings of the proposal between a national park (to the east) and several nature reserves (to the west and south). Image: Navarre green energy hub EPBC referral
The land on which the project is proposed takes in a corner of state-owned property, but is mainly privately owned and “predominantly” used for agriculture, the HMC Capital spokesperson said.
The owners are planting natives on the land, but it’s unclear whether this is in the same location as where turbines are planned for.
Environmental surveys found evidence of brown treecreepers, hooded robins and diamond firetails using the site, but no swift parrots, although a pair was recorded in the Big Tottington Nature Reserve about 9km north of the project area, noted the 2023 referral to the federal EPBC process.
“Golden sun moth has been assumed as present in the project area given the presence and extent of suitable grassy habitats. This will be confirmed through targeted surveys during the next phases of the project,” said EPBC referral said.
Knowledge gap problem
If the two-year-old news that swathes of native vegetation might be cleared was painful, the other ongoing issue highlighted by the media reports is the gap in what communities know about how planning processes work.
After development applications are lodged, projects usually go through a period of redesign as government planners, communities, and the financial realities of what a developer is proposing force changes to the original idea.
But these designs are seen by communities as the final option. Alongside sub-par consultation, this can lead to real strife.
“To say that this project is unpopular in the area would be an understatement,” says Small, who says he found out he was a neighbour to three proposed turbines from the planning documents.
“Communications and PR has been abysmal. It has already shattered a once close community. It should probably serve as a blueprint for how NOT to manage a project.”
He alleges mixed messages in the past as to what the project might look like and little contact from the previous owner Neoen or HMC Capital.
The HMC Capital spokesperson said its local team has been working with the landowners for years as project partners, who recognise the potential to drought proof their property and add some wider benefits to their community.
“There is support for the project amongst a sizable group of local farmers, landholders, and community members who recognise its local benefits,” they said.
“However, all local voices are important to us and we will seek to take on board community views as we progressively update the community about project plan changes and improvements.”
Community engagement, and increasingly near neighbour engagement, is a heated topic.
This issue is a key platform for the Clean Energy Council’s new-look team after major personnel changes in the wake of the federal election.
Regional-based groups such as RE-Alliance and the Community Power Agency, as well as energy infrastructure czar Tony Mahar and now state ombudsmen as well, have long been demanding better standards across the whole industry.
These include multi-strategy communications schemes, executives fronting communities, and offering capacity building to give communities the knowledge they need to participate in the changes in their area rather than having them imposed.
