The Central Goldfields Shire will this week decide whether to grant a permit for a 90 megawatt solar farm in Carisbrook.
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The farm, expected to cover 300 hectares, will be located around 3.5 kilometres outside of Carisbrook.
The development has received 18 written objections, ranging from concerns with environmental impacts, fire risk and its impact on productive agricultural land.
Other objectors were concerned with electrical noise (static) produced by the inverters and its effect on TV and radio reception in the area while others felt the proposal will have an adverse impact on tourism and will deter visitors.
German company ib vogt is behind the development, which plans to create 250,000 panels to produce 150,000 gigawatt hours of power each year – enough, it says, to “power a city close to the size of Bendigo”.
A planning report to Central Goldfields Shire administrators advises them to approve the development.
The planner suggests the administrators approve the development, with the following amendments:
- A 30 metres minimum separation between the edge of the solar arrays and the edge of the four ecologically constrained areas identified in the Flora and Fauna Assessment report (Biosis, 2018) and the edge of the native vegetation buffers along the south and west boundaries of the facility.
- A 10 metres wide fuel-reduced area around the perimeter of the site which is to contain a perimeter road complying with the CFA access requirements.
- The location of the static water supply tanks required for fire suppression purposes.
The CG shire council meeting is on Tuesday.