Wednesday, 31 July 2024

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:35): (1017) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Planning, and it concerns the planning rules for wind energy facilities. The action that I seek is for the minister to review the setback distance of wind turbines from homes in light of increasing turbine heights and consider enlarging the setback in Victoria.

Wind turbines generate a persistent low-level noise that can be very troubling for nearby residents. This is especially true in rural and regional areas, where there is little or no traffic or background noise and where residents treasure the peaceful silence of living in the country. Having that peace disturbed by a wind turbine that produces constant noise is known to impact mental health and cause significant anxiety and stress. For that reason, there are rules for how far wind turbines must be set back from people’s homes. Originally Victoria did not have any rules around turbine setback distances, and wind energy installations caused frequent complaints. The Liberal–National coalition went to the 2010 election, and won, with a policy to introduce a wind turbine setback distance of 2 kilometres. This allowed new wind energy projects to bring new energy onto the grid whilst protecting residents from being disturbed by noise and visual impact. The Labor government then reduced that setback from 2 kilometres to 1 kilometre in 2015, and 1 kilometre is the current setback distance today.

Fera Australia recently hosted a community meeting with locals from Nanneella, in my electorate, to discuss their proposal to install 40 to 50 wind turbines on two farmland sites between Nanneella and Koyuga. There was strong community opposition to this proposal, and although no planning application has yet been submitted, the minister should be aware of local sentiment in the area. During the meeting concerned residents noted that when Labor changed the setback from 2 kilometres to 1 kilometre wind turbine heights were typically 150 metres at the tip. But the newest turbines that Fera is proposing to install in these locations are larger, closer to 230 metres at the tip. The meeting heard that these larger and higher turbines will cast noise further than the smaller turbines that the 1-kilometre setback was modelled on. The community members in the meeting were adamant that a 1-kilometre setback from homes is simply not adequate to protect them from the noise of the larger, newer turbines.

In his 2021 annual report the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner recommended that state governments introduce a default setback of 1.5 kilometres for wind turbines with a tip of 200 metres to limit noise and shadow flicker effects and consider a longer setback to minimise impact on visual amenities.