They're huge and coming to a beach near you

THE distance to the horizon, for a person of average height, standing on the beach and looking out to sea, is 4.8km.

That’s not good news if you’re standing on the beach at Cape Woolamai where it is proposed by the Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, that turbines of up to 350 metres in height can be located as close as 4.7km offshore.

In other words, almost the entire height of these enormous structures, from the water level to the top of the massive turbine blades, will be clearly visible from the beach.

If you’re looking out to sea from a height of 10 metres, i.e. from the top of the boardwalk, the distance to the horizon is 11.4km.

Even if the turbines are located at the furthest point away from Cape Woolamai, in one of the closest Gippsland Proposed Areas, almost all of the turbine height will be clearly visible.

It’s not a problem if you like turbines.

If you think that 100s of these structures, dominating the horizon as you look out to sea is a problem, you might like to attend one of the “Gippsland Offshore Renewable Open House Information Sessions” scheduled at Gippsland locations in the next week.

The drop-in session locations and times are as follows:

• Morwell: Monday, August 29, 2022 at the Italian/Australian Club 4pm – 6pm
• Lakes Entrance: Tuesday, August 30, 2022 at the Lakes Mechanics Hall 4pm – 6pm.
• Sale: Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at the Port of Sale, Wellington Centre 10am – 12pm.
• Yarram: Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at the Regent Theatre 4pm – 6pm.
• Wonthaggi: Thursday, September 1, 2022 at the Wonthaggi Workmen’s Club 11am – 2pm.
• Leongatha: Thursday, September 1, 2022 at the South Gippsland Shire Council Chambers 5pm – 7pm.

You might like to ask some of the following questions:

• According to one of the companies likely to develop an offshore wind farm, Star of the South, “the life of an offshore turbine is about 30 years” – what happens when the 350-metre-high structures have outlived their usefulness? Will the developers be responsible for de-constructing the turbines at the end of their life?
• The Star of the South is proposing to underground their transmission line from where it comes ashore at Reeves Beach near Yarram and for most of the 75km to Loy Yang. What about the other candidates looking to develop similar wind energy facilities off the beach at Phillip Island, Kilcunda, Inverloch and Waratah Bay?
• Will the Australian Government and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water require a full environmental impact assessment to be conducted, accessible to the community, before allowing the offshore wind farms to go ahead?

If you want to provide your feedback online, you can go to the government’s consultation hub at https://consult.industry.gov.au/oei-gippsland

The department’s The Offshore Renewable Energy Team said this about the drop-in sessions:

“As part of the consultation for the public consultation on the Gippsland area under consideration for offshore renewable energy, we have scheduled community open house drop-in information sessions in the week of the 29 August, 2022 in the Gippsland region. These sessions do not require registration, are free to join, and have no set agenda—so members of the community are encouraged to attend whenever suits them best, during the session, and to stay for as long as they like. The sessions are an opportunity for people to ask questions, discuss issues of importance and learn more about making a submission on the Gippsland area under consideration.

“If members of the media sector plan on participating – we ask that you attend during the first 15 minutes of a session – that way the rest of the session can be left for the general public.

“The open house sessions will have representatives from different government bodies involved with planning around offshore renewable energy giving the community the opportunity to direct questions to the most relevant agencies.

“The locations of the open house sessions have been chosen based on large community interest in offshore wind/transmission development and in consultation with the various representatives, including the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner. The locations cover the six6 local government areas in Gippsland and are spread across the areas closest to the Gippsland proposed area."