November 21, 2023
The company which aims to build the Tarong West Wind Farm has moved to reassure residents who have expressed traffic concerns about the project.
Representatives from renewable energy developer RES spoke at a community meeting in Kumbia on Monday night.
About 50 local residents attended the consultation meeting at Kumbia Memorial Hall.
They were told the turbine components for the project would be transported from the Port Of Brisbane via Dalby and Bell using the same route that was used during the construction of the nearby Coopers Gap Wind Farm.
However, instead of moving via Niagara Road, the Tarong West components would travel further along the Bunya Highway to Mannuem Road, which RES believes will offer the best access route to the wind farm site.
Several residents who live on Mannuem Road, or regularly travel on it, expressed concerns their lives would be disrupted by this traffic.
The RES team said that, if invited, they would be happy to visit the affected properties to examine if some of these disruptions could be minimised.
The wind farm, formerly known as Iron Leaf, will be owned by Stanwell.
Construction of the project, 8km north-west of Kumbia, is unlikely to begin before the end of next year.
Monday night was the sixth round of community consultation meetings RES has held over the past two years.
The aim of the meetings was to ensure communities near the project were kept “in the loop” as it progressed.
The number of turbines planned for the project has already been cut from 151 to 97 although the project will still generate 436.5MW of power.
RES plans to create a $10 million community benefit fund that would provide a stream of ongoing annual payments to properties neighbouring the wind farm once construction begins, and a second grants stream that would help support local community groups.
The company has already lodged a submission for the wind farm’s approval with the Federal Government, and requests for State and Council approvals would be lodged in the near future.
Footnote: RES held a similar meeting at the Farmers Hall in Ironpot on Tuesday morning to update residents living near the western end of the proposed wind farm.
- External link: Tarong West Wind Farm
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