Tuki project receives support

Hepburn Shire Advocate
Wednesday 23/5/2007 Page: 7

SMEATON and Kingston residents are among supporters of the Tuki windfarm. Kingston's Bruce Armstrong said wind energy was an effective form of energy and was one way the Hepburn Shire district could reduce climate change. "Having been to a windfarm, I can say that they are surprisingly quiet. Nor did I see one dead bird at the base of a turbine," he said. "I agree that wind turbines need a base and access roads. "But hydro and fossil fuel installations also occupy land. "In the case of Tuki, the land that will be used is unfit for cultivation, as indicated by the area's alternate name of Stoney Rises," Mr Armstrong said.

Smeaton's Emma Paulding also suggested the turbines would not reduce the land's attractiveness. "The letter drop from the Spa Country Landscape Guardians, highlighting the threat to the visual beauty of the spa country, made me laugh. "Firstly because the 'beautiful landscape' they showed looked like nothing more than cleared farming land dotted by introduced weeds and straight lines - hardly a beautiful natural landscape as this land would have once been covered by native forest," she said.

The project consists of 19 turbines and will deliver up to 28.5MW of power with a capital investment required of approximately $70 million. The development requires approval by Hepburn Shire Council.