Wind turbines unable to be transported to their sites in NSW

A bridge and a railway underpass will have to be demolished or bypassed – at a cost of upwards of $340 million – to give trucks transporting massive wind turbines access to new renewable energy zones in country NSW.

A bridge and a railway underpass will have to be demolished or bypassed – at a cost of upwards of $340 million – to give trucks transporting massive wind turbines access to new renewable energy zones (REZ) in country NSW.

Local councils say massive upgrades to our regional roads is “urgent” to get the materials delivered to set up the REZs before multiple coal-fired power stations close within the next seven years.

Enormous wind turbine blades measuring up to 90 metres long and almost 7 metres in diameter need to be transported from Newcastle port to renewable energy projects near Dubbo in the state’s central west and Armidale in New England.

Yet the state’s highways are unable to take the increase in oversized vehicles with significant infrastructure needing to be built to allow trucks to pass through.

Trucks carrying large turbine parts to new wind farm projects in the north cannot fit under a railway underpass in Muswellbrook on the New England highway which has a height limit of 5.2 metres, according to Muswellbrook Shire Council papers objecting to a proposal by Winterbourne wind farm to use local roads.

The Muswellbrook railway underpass. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

A previously planned Muswellbrook bypass will need to be built to circumvent the railway underpass taking oversized traffic off the New England Highway, which goes through the centre of town. The project has been funded at a cost of $340 million, $268.8 million of which will come from the Federal government.

Trucks trying to get to energy projects in the Central West-Orana REZ are also being stopped in their tracks by a little bridge outside of Muswellbrook.

Director of environment and planning at Muswellbrook Council, Sharon Pope said the only two options to get trucks across the Denman bridge, which crosses the Hunter River, will be to pull it down and make it bigger or build a second bypass. Neither of these options would come cheap.

Ms Pope said the alternative was to send the trucks along local country roads, which are not designed to take the weight and could cost millions extra in repairs. Using local roads for large freight can be dangerous due to the inability of the vehicle to navigate harsher bends. A 60-tonne truck carrying a 68-metre long wind turbine blade rolled after using a Tasmanian local road in 2019.

A truck carrying an 80m turbine recently rolled in Tasmania. Picture: TASMANIA POLICE

Ms Pope said Muswellbrook council had already been approached by multiple energy companies asking to use local roads.

One company, Winterbourne Wind Farm, is asking to move up to 357 turbine blades over 18 months. Each blade needs an oversized vehicle to transport it. Ms Pope estimates there will be up to 20 different energy companies looking to use the local roads.

“This creates a real problem for council because a lot of our local roads were not constructed to cater for those sorts of movements. But who do we ask to upgrade that road? The first wind farm that comes along?” she said.

“They will be using the local roads until the Musellbrook bypass can be completed and it could be 7 to 10 years before that happens but until that time we need some mechanisms as to how the different companies would pay for the maintenance of those roads.”

Not only will increased heavy vehicle movement decimate local roads, their ability to turn corners is limited due to their sheer size. Ms Pope said intersections need to be temporarily closed every time a truck needs to negotiate them.

Ms Pope said one of the council’s concerns was who would pay for the road upgrades and any infrastructure to rebuild Denman bridge. As Muswellbrook itself is not within a REZ, the area does not get any economic benefit from new jobs created. Neither was anyone from the council consulted when the zones were first proposed.

Ms Pope is concerned the local council may be in the position of having to foot the bill for road damage.

Member for the Upper Hunter Dave Layzell pictured with the Muswellbrook railway underpass near. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“I can only assume that part of the solution includes contributional payments coming from the different wind farm projects,” she said.

“It is our preference, the state government comes up with a strategic solution to be able to spread the cost of that road upgrading work.”

The NSW state government planning, transport and energy departments are currently working together to find the best way to facilitate oversized trucks moving between ports and the REZs.

An EnergyCo spokesperson said renewable energy developers had a responsibility to address issues caused by overmass vehicle movements “as part of their respective Environmental Impact Statements.”

A Planning department spokesperson said the need for any upgrades to road infrastructure was considered as part of any REZ project proposal.

Upper Hunter MP Dave Layzell said the infrastructure projects replacing the Denam bridge were crucial in order to rewire the state and for the safety of local roads.

“Energy Co and the NSW state government are the ones that really need to invest in our infrastructure to allow these movements of the wind blades,” he said.

“Oversized trucks on local roads will shut down communities, not to mention the danger it will bring to local residents using those smaller roads.”

Freight network overhaul overdue

The state of NSW’s regional roads is “appalling” with large upgrade projects left unfunded, says the state’s roads mogul.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, NSW Regional Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said the government was only just looking at how massive road upgrades could be accomplished to accommodate oversize and overmass vehicles transporting parts to the state’s renewable energy zones (REZ).

“At the moment we’re in the ‘how’ are we going to do this,” she said.

“The frustration for me is the ‘how’ should have happened a couple of years ago when Matt Kean introduced the REZs that require a completely new investment of everything, from infrastructure to workforce transmission.”

Ms Aitchison said the work required to overhaul the state’s regional road network to support the renewable rewiring of the state is “a massive task”, yet there weren’t enough funds in the coffer to pay for all the developments needed.

Minister for regional roads, Jenny Aitchison. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

“We need to look at what the priority is, we can’t do everything all at once, that’s just the reality,” she said.

“We know we need to get energy, we know we need to power the state, so that’s a pretty high priority. Making sure the material that is required to do that can get on the roads is a massive task.”

Part of the problem, she said, is the inefficient way freight is moved across the country.

“At the moment … the person who is moving freight makes the decision about what is the most efficient way to get the freight there and we don’t as a state have a view of what that looks like … but that informs the decisions as to where money is best spent.”

Ms Aitchison said a project such as rebuilding the Denman bridge in Muswellbrook was a large undertaking, with the government considering whether private energy developers with overmass freight should pay for such projects.

“It’s something we need to look at and it’s not just the energy companies, it’s businesses such as quarries and mines as well,” she said.

“I understand the view of some of the councils, that they are the ones getting the pain and none of the benefits, that’s an understandable perspective.”

National MP and former Roads Minister Sam Farraway said the ability for the government to build major road projects was severely hampered by the Albanese government who renegotiated the funding split between state and federal governments.

Previously, many projects were funded with an 80-20 funding split with the federal government paying for the majority.

Mr Farraway said he had approached federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King about funding for the Golden Highway, after which she told him the 80-20 funding split would cease to exist except on a case-by-case basis.

“It will be very hard to get any upgrades done without Commonwealth funding,” he said.

“It is up to Jenny Aitchison to ask for a return to the previous funding models or she will build a lot less roads than we did.”