Mayor Keith Campbell sees South Burnett as new "power-house"

The area is already home to the coal fired Tarong power station and will soon include 115 wind turbines to be built at Coopers Gap, near Cooranga North, after the state government approved the project last week.

That would just leave a solar farm to complete the energy trifecta which Mayor Keith Campbell said council would be open to supporting if the opportunity presented itself.

AGL Energy Limited will build the $500 million Coopers Gap wind farm on 10 properties predominately used for cattle grazing due to their wind corridors and will be operational from 2020.

The farm will be connected to a new substation running along the new Western Downs to Halys 275kV transmission line with the farm set to produce around 1400 Gwh of renewable energy possible of powering more than 240,000 average Australian homes. 

Wide Bay Burnett and Darling downs people and contractors will be sourced to fill the 350 jobs during construction and 20 permanent jobs there after.

Council has already held discussions with a number of Kingaroy businesses expected to gain business from the farm and developing their capability statements ahead of the project’s state government approval. 

With the wind farm to contribute up to $4 million each year to the local economy, Mayor Campbell said it would not only be a boost for jobs but also tourism and farmers hosting turbines could use their financial incentive for drought resilience.

“It does serve as an attraction I believe and again it’s just another of those features that people who would like to come and visit the South Burnett will be able to visit the wind farms, the beautiful Bunya Mountains and travel down through our towns,” he said.

“An opportunity like this for this region doesn’t come around all that often.”

The wind farm has been a controversial topic for many people in the region with producer’s neighboring the proposed site concerned many won’t be able to stand living beside the farm and will sell up leaving their community divided.  

Queensland’s Coordinator General approved the Environment Impact Statement for the farm but did place conditions on noise compliance and testing, shadow flicker compliance and offsets for flora and fauna disturbance. 

Mayor Campbell said council had thoroughly considered the proposal and believed all procedures and plans had been followed accordingly, but locals aren’t convinced. 

Jim and Kate Scutt purchased their property at Cooranga North in December 2012 and relocated from Dirranbandi to enjoy the quiet lifestyle but will soon have wind turbines within a few kilometres of their home. 

Despite meeting with AGL representatives and attending tours of other wind farms, their calls to have the site stopped have gone unanswered.

Mr Scutt said not only was the noise an issue but he feared the unreliability of the power, seen in regular blackout in South Australia, could have flow on affects for the agriculture industry. 

“In Queensland with price hikes and unreliable power many businesses will be affected,” he said.

“Worst effected will be abattoirs who are large users of power (and) as consequence will pay less for cattle.”

However Cyril Stewart, who will host wind turbines, has previously spoken of his support for the farm and said he couldn’t see any adverse affects to living near the site.

AGL Managing Director and CEO Andy Vesey said they were looking forward to continuing the project’s development and working with the local community on fine-tuning the details.