Renewables: Teesdale, Lethbridge and Meredith residents raise concerns with wind farm plan

Opponents of a major wind farm development on farmland near Geelong have called a community meeting for next month. See their concerns.

Opposition to plans to erect 60 wind turbines taller than Melbourne’s Rialto Tower on farmland north of Geelong is building, with a community meeting scheduled for April 14.

Spanish company Acciona has proposed the 360MW Tall Tree wind farm near the townships of Teesdale, Lethbridge and Meredith in Golden Plains Shire.

The maximum height of the turbines will be 271m, which is almost 20m taller than the Rialto and about 30m shorter than Eureka Tower, also in Melbourne.

The Tall Tree wind farm is in the feasibility stage with the Acciona website stating the recently announced quicker pathway to approvals for renewable projects in Victoria is “not expected to apply” to its plans.

Horse breeder Andrea McKendry said the turbines were being built too close to her hometown, Lethbridge.

“We’ve got a lot of primary producers around here and it’s going to have a big impact on them,” she said.

“We’re a food bowl for sheep, cows and chooks.

“This is going to have a huge financial impact.”

Andrea McKendry and Garry Baum, front, are spearheading the opposition to a wind farm near Teesdale, Lethbridge and Meredith. Picture: Mark Wilson

The Tall Tree proposal is unrelated to the 765MW Golden Plains wind farm at nearby Rokewood.

“Rokewood is more of a farming community with open plains and not near three towns,” Ms McKendry said.

“We’ve got three primary schools, three kindergartens – we don’t know what the long term effect is going to be on them.

“The area also has a large overlay of cultural significance of our First Nations people.”

How the Tall Timbers wind farm stacks up against the Melbourne skyline.

Garry Baum is the owner-manager of the Lethbridge airport which will host the April 14 community meeting.

He said the turbines would be too close to its boundary and posed major safety risks for pilots.

“The turbulence that will come off the turbines on light aircraft will be just terrible,” Mr Baum said.

“If they go ahead it’s going to kill the income of the actual airfield.

“They’ve got to be further away.

“It blows the safety side of things completely out of the water.”

Almost 50 hangars have been built at the airport that is used primarily for training and business, but also during emergencies including recent bushfires.

The Tall Tree wind farm website states: “A wind farm project of this size has the potential to generate enough energy to power approximately 265,000 homes, and could create up to 270 jobs during peak construction, as well as up to 10-12 ongoing jobs during operations.”