By Kirra Grimes
THE construction of a 10.8 metre tall wind turbine on a Phillip Island residential property will pose a serious threat to the local Short-tailed Shearwater population, according to the nation’s leading bird conservation organisation.
BirdLife Australia’s Coastal Birds Projects Officer Dr Daniel Lees made the claim in a letter to Bass Coast Shire Council’s planning department last week, expressing strong opposition to the impending installation of a domestic wind turbine at a holiday home in Surf Beach, around 250 metres from a shearwater breeding colony.
Elaborating his concerns to the Sentinel-Times, Dr Lees said the proposed wind turbine would have “extremely detrimental” effects on the colony, mainly because at night when adult birds returned to their nests in the dunes to feed their chicks it was unlikely that they’d be able to see the turbine’s blades as they were spinning.
“If their flight path crosses the turbine – which is very likely given the turbines proximity to the colony – they will die as a result of collision with the blades,” Dr Lees said.
Conservation groups and community members are worried Short-tailed Shearwaters will get caught up in the blades of a wind turbine proposed for a property in Surf Beach.
“This is even more likely when the naive young birds start learning to fly,” he said.
When asked to clarify their stance, Phillip Island Nature Parks declined to comment on the specific case currently under investigation by council, but confirmed Short-tailed Shearwaters on Phillip Island “are vulnerable to strike hazards from structures”.
“The Nature Parks’ purpose is to protect wildlife and inspire people to act,” spokesperson Sally O’Neill said.
“We are committed to becoming a carbon-neutral organisation by 2030 and support renewable energies to reduce the effects of climate change.
“We must also consider the significant environmental values on Phillip Island when selecting a suitable type of renewable energy to be generated locally,” Ms O’Neill said.
Proponent of the Surf Beach turbine Robert McKittrick doesn’t believe it will have negative effects on the shearwaters or other wildlife and argues his concern for the environment is precisely the reason he’s pursuing the project.
“I’m not an environmental vandal – far from it,” Mr McKittrick told the Sentinel-Times recently.
Community members opposing the turbine have asked council use “extraordinary powers” to halt work on the project, in light of BirdLife Australia’s advice.
Council was unable to comment under its election period policy.
MP ‘concerned’ but powerless to stop turbine construction
BASS MP Jordan Crugnale has shared her views on the turbine, telling the Sentinel-Times last week, “wind generated energy is an important part of the energy mix,” however “any fair minded person would be concerned to see the construction of a tall turbine in a residential area”.
Ms Crugnale said whether or not construction should go ahead “is a matter for the Bass Coast Council under their Local Planning Provisions,” as the State Planning Scheme currently only has provisions for wind turbines associated with large scale wind farms.
“Until a planning provision is created to cover domestic use wind turbines, the handling of planning requirements and issues is left to the discretion and interpretation of local councils,” Ms Crugnale explained.
Ms Crugnale’s advice to Bass Coast Shire Council, ever since Surf Beach residents began their campaign to stop the turbine, has been to “explore the energy output and legitimate domestic use” of the proposed structure, “which they can do through their local planning scheme”.
“Turbines which are expected to predominantly generate power that will be exported to a grid or to a specific consumer for commercial gain, will likely come under the State’s Wind Energy Facility Clause in the planning provision for which a planning permit is required,” Ms Crugnale said.
Shire CEO Ali Wastie has previously stated that the output of energy from the proposed turbine is considered “within acceptable parameters” for domestic use and that “there is no evidence that it will be used for commercial purposes”.
Just because the law has not kept up with technology on requiring restrictions that Council permits can address before the turbine is constructed does not exempt the turbine owner from existing laws regarding excessive noise or killing wildlife. If this happens and legal action is taken, the turbine owner could also be faced with fines and paying both parties legal fees. Not fair on anyone.
I have experience with domestic turbines.
Birds don’t fly into wind turbines. They fly around them as they do most man made buildings. They do fly into power lines and windows however. Bats are a different issue as they fly by sonar which does not travel as fast as light so a nearby bat colony may cause some problems.
The business of not being classified by the VBA is just idiotic. They probably don’t have a classification for a Ferris wheel either. However it is a structure.
1. This would be covered by ‘a mast or tower’ over 8m tall, this requires council planning and then council building permission.
2. It is a structure. All structures in Victoria need to be signed off by a consulting engineer. The tower itself ( which does look strong enough I might add ) and the footings. The footings would need to be inspected and signed off by a building surveyor from council or independent surveyor and be as designed by the engineer.
3. There is an Australian Standard for wind turbines.
4. Any reputable wind turbine manufacturer would have had their turbines assessed by NREL or similar for longevity, safety and noise level.
5. The EPA regulation is: the noise level cannot be 5dB above ambient at the boundary so there is no chance of this complying anyway.
6. Safety controls must be in place. This appears to be a variable pitch unit. Great idea, but many Chinese units fail – check out the Rewind saga in NSW.
7. To be connected to the grid the inverter needs to be programmed to match the turbine. This requires some knowledge. The Inverter must also meet AS4777 and AS3000 standards. Typical Chinese grid connect wind inverters do not meet these standards so this is also a safety issue.
The council should have stopped this as soon as the over 8m mark was reached.
NOTE: I think residential wind turbines are a great idea. 99% of installed wind turbines in Australia never should have been installed. They need to be in a windy site on several acres so that the turbine will be 50m plus away from neighbours. They also need to be on 18m towers to avoid turbulence. In a built-up area they are a complete waste of money (because of turbulence) and give small wind installations a bad name. In the correct setting they are fantastic.