Katrina BRANDON
WORKS on the Delburn Wind Farm started last month, despite some having concerns over the project.
The Strzelecki Community Alliance Inc. (SCA) recently submitted a petition to Parliament against the wind farm.
The petition hopes to draw attention of the Legislative Council to the state government’s decision to “bail out the defunct Delburn Wind Farm using SEC Victoria and taxpayer funds, after costs ballooned from $320 million to $700 million and private investors abandoned the high bushfire risk project”.
In January, the State Electricity Commission (SEC) and Minister for the State Electricity Commission, Lily D’Ambrosio, broke ground at the Delburn Wind Farm site, stating that works were to start in March 2026 and finish by 2028.
The project, to be home to 33 turbines, is said to create more than 300 jobs for the area.
Concerned about the project, the SCA questioned the state government’s support of the project.
“The Strzelecki Community Alliance Incorporated (SCA), a large community group representing residents across Latrobe, South Gippsland and West Gippsland shires condemn the Victorian Labor government’s decision to commit up to $700 million in public funds to rescue the Delburn Wind Farm – a project private investors had already abandoned as financially unviable,” a SCA spokesperson told the Gippsland Farmer.
“The public have been told there’s no money for hospitals, but somehow there’s $700 million for a wind farm that investors walked away from. That raises serious questions about priorities, accountability and risk.”
Shifting from private to public investment, SCA said this raised a few flags.
The SCA stated that the Delburn Wind Farm failed to reach financial close, with investors exiting after the project “did not stack up commercially”. Furthermore, they said that the government’s intervention now transfers commercial risk from developers OSMI and Cubico onto taxpayers, while the local communities are left to bear the operational, environmental and safety impacts.
Highlighting the promise for jobs, the SCA said that construction work is short-term, specialist-driven and offers little lasting benefit to the region.
Since 2019, the alliance has campaigned against the project, commissioning independent national and international experts on bushfire risk, noise and visual amenity. They said the reports relied on by the government were superficial and failed to properly assess the dangers.
With hot and dry conditions recently opening up the risk of fire, SCA added that the bushfire risk in the area is alarming.
“The entire project footprint lies within a designated bushfire-prone area, intersected by major roads and emergency service flight paths,” SCA said.
“In its 2022 report, the government-appointed planning panel explicitly acknowledged the likelihood of major bushfire events during the life of the project and accepted that turbines and associated infrastructure could be lost to fire, stating ‘It accepts the potential for a major bushfire to occur in the plantation during the life of the project and that it would impact the project infrastructure’.”
Lastly, concerns over the government playing the role of regulator, funder and decision-maker was a factor that also raised alarms.
The SCA is calling for transparency and parliamentary scrutiny from the government, to ensure that taxpayer money isn’t at risk within the project.
“The SCA supports renewable energy and action on climate change,” they said.
“Projects must be appropriately sited, rigorously assessed and transparently justified.
“Projects must not place regional communities at risk, degrade high-value landscapes, and threaten ecologically significant areas.
“Clean energy should not mean blank cheques. It should never come at the cost of public safety.”
Sponsoring the petition, Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath, also shared her concern.
Ms Bath told the Gippsland Farmer that parts of the community are deeply opposed to the Delburn Wind Farm, warning of heightened fire risk in the pine plantation and serious noise and visual impacts.
“Labor has committed over $650 million of taxpayer funds to revive a project abandoned by commercial operators with an original budget of approximately $320m,” she said.
“Labor’s inability to manage money and major projects is well documented, Victorians have seen time and again, what begins in the millions can end in the billions.”
Ms Bath said the Delburn Wind farm will have a profound impact on Gippslanders living close to it.
“With 1600 homes in the vicinity, the potential for a bushfire event remains a major concern for the community and their anxiety is completely understandable.
“Submissions to the Delburn Wind Farm Planning Report noted that turbines in a pine plantation could face fast moving, high intensity fires that are difficult to control and challenging for emergency services.
“Labor is running roughshod over the community to appear more green to those living in the city.
“The SEC has been a complete sham, for over a decade the Allan government has bungled the state’s renewable energy transition promising bills will go down when prices climbed higher.
“The petition invites residents to express their views and send their voice to Spring Street, something I honour and respect.”
The SEC was approach by the Gippsland Farmer, whose spokesperson replied: “SEC is excited to deliver Victoria’s first publicly owned, utility-scale wind generation project in Gippsland.SEC anticipates the project’s total capital expenditure to be around $650 million. Once operational in 2028, the project will deliver sustainable returns which SEC will reinvest in more projects to support Victoria’s renewable energy transition.
“The SEC Delburn Wind Farm will deliver significant local benefits, including more than 300 local jobs during construction and more than $22 million in neighbour and community benefit sharing programs.
“We are looking forward to speaking with community members and local businesses in the coming weeks about project’s construction and the many work and supplier opportunities that the project will offer.”
