Valley of the Winds Wind Farm

Believing there is a need of this type of project for our future needs and having had dealings with UPC developers and the very up front transparency and discussions of the effects and benefits about the project. In saying this, we support the project.

I object to the VOW project based on the following concerns:

- Number and Size of Turbines in close proximity to small village
Proximity of a substantial number of turbines close to the village of Coolah. This project, combined with the Liverpool Range Windfarm could potentially see hundreds of turbines close to the Coolah village. While VOW have conducted community consultation, there has been no provision by State Government of a combined project/REZ "picture" or “visualisation” of what these will collectively look like for Coolah in the future.

- Cumulative Impacts
What will be the combined impacts? Visual, Economic, Social, Aircraft access (agricultural and Fire Fighting), Environmental and Agricultural? Isn't 1 major project (LPRWF) close to and visible to a small community enough? The scale of this project will be too much (in conjunction with the LPRWF) for the small community of Coolah. While not every resident will show concern over the changing landscape - there will be many that will. The postcard vista of the Coolah valley will be significantly changed and not just in the mere distance, they will be located on the surrounding ridges of the town. How many is too many for a small village or town?

- No provision for reduced energy costs
Communities who find themselves surrounded by these large scale renewable energy projects should in the first instance receive drastically reduced energy prices. Yes, there are Community Enhancement Funds and Benefit Sharing Schemes but for having these turbines (and solar panels and high voltage power lines....) to help power the state - deliver lower energy prices at the very least.

- High Risk of “Boom and Bust” for the community
Rural towns and regional cities currently have a major workforce shortage. The labour required to build this project (and others) will undoubtedly be brought in and sourced externally (potentially offshore too?), this is likely to provide a short-term “construction phase business boom”, that poses the risk of a “bust” post construction for many small businesses and communities. Considerations need to be given to the ability to provide essential services to the community and the workers during this phase too eg. Health and hospital services etc Rural and regional communities are already challenged by under-resourced hospitals and health worker shortages.

- Loss of identity
The potential “boom and bust” nature of developments of this size also poses significant impacts to the social and cultural aspects of our community. The unique culture of our community is a source of pride and is integral to community connection and social engagement for community members. I foresee that numerous developments of this size in conjunction with the REZ could potentially cost the community its identity and contribute to a loss of social engagement and a loss of culture and heritage. The very nature of these large scale developments and the REZ are already activating community division. It is a large price to pay, for once active and engaged communities to be traumatised and further isolated by division. There is an equilibrium, a healthy balance for such developments, and I feel this project exceeds that.

- Consistency and Reliability of Renewable Energy
I fear that the rushed target of a complete transition to 100% renewable Energy will be costly. I think a balanced transition and approach would be more efficient and sensible, allowing sufficient time to further investigate other potential models and solutions, and locations, to transition in a slow and considered way. This would also provide opportunity to identify any unknown impacts or challenges (eg consistent supply during severe weather events) and to further mitigate significant impacts and issues for the REZ areas, communities and the state.

As a frequent visitor of the area I am very disturbed to hear about the proposal for excessive wind farm development. I believe this will have a profoundly negative impact not only on the local community and businesses, but also on the surrounding scenery and existing wildlife, especially the wedge-tail eagles that frequent the area.

The UPC/AC (now ACEN) wind farm at Coolah named Valley of the Winds will have a grave effect on special parts of the Coolah district. For example, the Turee Creek Valley that is on full display when driving along Tongy Lane. The stunning landscape and the spectacular views will be completely overwhelmed by huge wind turbines that will stand over the valley on the adjacent ridge. Likewise the Coolah valley.

There is a place for wind farms, however I don’t believe they should be positioned in such picturesque environments and in such close proximity to residents of this small country town. I understand all the farmers along the Turee valley are devastated about this proposed development and they have my support.

This project must be modified so that beautiful environments and surrounding landholders are not so adversely affected. Why should the people in the Coolah community host 370 plus 250 metre high wind turbines, gigantic transmission towers and large substations that accompany a power project of this size?

As Uarbry residents we are deeply concerned that only recently have we become aware of the extensive intrusion of the construction and operation of the UPC/AC Valley of the Winds wind farm on our home. We are currently building a new home in a very quiet leafy area - Uarbry. We have less than 20 vehicles pass our house each day. During wind farm construction which is estimated to take 2 years we will have 344 vehicles per day traverse our street. Our house is 20 metres from the street. In order for oversize and overmass vehicles to access the UPC/AC Valley of the Winds wind farm our streets will be widened and our trees removed. Our house will end up being much closer than 20 metres to the construction traffic.



Uarbry was almost wiped out in the Sir Ivan fire in 2017 and as a direct result we witnessed a huge decrease in the number of animals, birds and plants. The trees in the Village, that weren’t destroyed by fire, have only just started to recover. We are also starting to see a return of the birds and animals. The construction and operation of the wind farm will be as devastating to the local wildlife as the Sir Ivan fire.

I think the project will greatly affect fire fighting capabilities in the area because aerial firefighting will not be used and therefore put people and property at risk.
Power should be generated where it is going to be used, I can't see where Coolah or any other towns/villages close by will be getting any use of the power generated by the wind towers. Why can't the power be generated in the Citys where it will be used?
I am concerned about what happens with all the turbines and concrete once they reach the end of their working life.

Please see attached letter

For the locals it’s all about winners and losers. NSW needs the farm, just tweak compensation to include more impacted neighbours. The opposition will evaporate.

See attached.

I strongly object to the project. My parents have lived in the village of Uarbry for the last 42 years, moving to the area because it was a quiet, untouched piece of paradise.

The very thought of what is yet to come by the construction of the wind farms is causing anxiety and concern for my parents and their Neighbours.

You need to realise that the St Ivan fires tore through the Uarbry area back in 2017 causing utter devastation, with many of my parents neighbours losing their homes, wildlife and stock burnt alive and vegetation turned to ash. Some people chose to rebuild their homes - the landscape has only just started to regrow with the wildlife only now returning to the area. This catastrophic event left a lot of the affected residents with long lasting trauma. My parents feel the need to protect their village and the surrounding landscape from the damage and destruction you are going to cause should the project proceed.

My parents are beside themselves with worry about what the wind farm and the construction of it will do to their homes.

95 metre trucks trying to navigate the small roads of our village, up to 300 vechicles a day travelling the local roads, the removal of what is left of the trees from the fire to make way for the trucks, etc is what the residents are worried about the most. This is not something that will happen for a short time and will impact their lives significantly - not to mention the huge ugly wind turbines sitting along the once pristinrhills of our district.

The mental stress is already showing with anger, concern, anxiety and worry raising it’s head in every conversation I have with my parents of late.

I worry for their mental well being should the proposal proceed.

Have UPC/AC provided realistic photo montages to the Coolah/Leadville community of how their homes and workplaces will look covered in the 500 Kv transmission lines that are required in a power project consisting of 370 plus wind turbines, each turbine being 250 metres high. The scale of the UPC/AC and the Tilt development around the small community will be devastating. Have UPC/AC divulged the exact details and route of the transmission line within the Valley of the Winds project? Do the stakeholders know that a 500 Kv transmission line requires:

An easement of 80 metres wide,

Vegetation adjacent to the easement cannot exceed a height of 10 metres,

Impacts of electric and magnetic fields on the fauna population: in birds this generally changes their behaviour, reproductive success, plus growth and development.

Do the farmers know anything about transmission line easement restrictions

Has the issue of crackling noise from transmission lines been explained. These valleys are often shrouded in fog, particularly in the mornings and corona discharge is magnified in dusty or damp environments.

The footings for these 80 metre high towers need to be excavated at a depth of up to 10 metres.

Regarding the proposed UPC/AC Valley of the Winds wind farm, it is simply too close to the Turee Creek valley. While I'm all for renewables, they must be placed where they don't overwhelm their neighbours and farming properties so dramatically and where they don't spoil such scenic valleys with powerlines. It is a tragedy to wreck such a great place.

I would like to register my objection to the proposed wind farm by UPC Renewables Australia Pty Ltd due to the visual impact it will have, as well as the constant noise that will accompany the wind farm. These factors will create an industrial environment which is not wanted nor needed in the rural area and will negatively affect the area and affect our peaceful surroundings. The wind farm will tower over our horizon and become an unwanted and dominant feature especially since most work is undertaken outdoors. The noise will also negatively impact our life, with constant noise very easily becoming an annoyance and possibly having an impact our mental health. One reason we choose to live in a rural location and consistently return during breaks from work or school, is to have peace and quiet, because while there may be noise due to machinery, it is occasional and only occurs in brief periods.

These wind farms will also impact the already poor mobile reception. We already struggle to get mobile connection when required for verifications and different sign ins requiring us to search around the whole house and outdoors to even find one bar to receive any messages (we are usually given no choice in these matters, with texts being the only way suggested to receive such things despite numerous times saying we have poor coverage). Having it reduced even more will affect our ability to perform tasks and will cause issues in a variety of areas that mobile reception is required- with it being ridiculous of us to have to leave the house or even property in order to receive messages to perform tasks. There are also not that many options in regard to providers that have reception in your area, and the wind farms will likely affect all of them.

I object to the Valley of the Winds wind farm project.

I am very concerned about the disposal of the batteries, oil and materials used in the Wind turbines. It is not good enough to say that by 2040 there will be an environmental method of disposal. If you are building these wind turbines now you should have an environmental method of disposing of them now. I understand that they will only last 15 years, not the exaggerated 25 plus years.

As a regular visitor to the Coolah district I am shocked to learn that there could be 371 wind turbines in this beautiful productive valley. The height of these turbines on the ridges will be obscene.

Felicity Greenway of the Dept. of Planning on 15th June 2022 at Dunedoo made public that the Wind Energy Framework needed to be updated in areas such as visual impacts, noise and neighbour agreements. I agree with her that this should be a priority of planning policy.
Concerns with visual amenity, aerial ag application, operational noise and transmission lines.

1) If people in so called 'Teal' & "Greens" electorates want so called "green energy" then they can have hundreds of turbines and the accompanying mega powerlines on their doorstep!
Afterall... having the power source close to the population centres that use most of it and want it, makes more sense doesn't it🙃...

2) Besides the obvious stupidity of wind power (listed below). Theres the danger to birds/aviation, humans should 'Blade-Thow' happen, the constant whirring of hundreds of turbines, the thousands of lights on the horizon (for aeroplane safety)(we didn't choose to live out here in the peaceful countryside to have thousands of lights in our faces and constant noise!).
The construction phase will damage the bio-diversity within the wind farm environs. Hundreds of tonnes of concrete per turbine, quarries, cement plant, camps for hundreds of workers, hundreds of vehicles through quiet village of Uarbry every day. Then theres the huge ugly power lines to get their power into the grid!
If city people want so called "green energy" then they can have all these Cons on their doorstep!!

3) Wind power is not clean. Solar is not clean. Electric cars are not clean. Everyone is forgetting about the mining and refining and production process to make it all! Then their limited lifespan!

4) Wind power requires WIND. It's not windy all the time. A whole line of towers isn't going to meet energy needs. Same problem with solar.

5) This shouldn't even be a discussion/debate. Humanity has had nuclear power possible since the 50's ! Yet all we do is push this so-called "clean energy". Wasting billions of $ and thousands of tonnes of materials.
Australia is the PERFECT country for Nuclear. Far from fault lines, weather is irrelevant, we have Uranium, and we have hundreds of kilometres of empty uninhabited desert to build a concrete bunker and store the tiny amount of waste that nuclear stations produce.
It's the ONLY logical, un-wasteful, clean, & actually quite safe way to generate power. Yet we don't even talk about it! Once it's running, it only needs a few physicists to manage and some security.
The government already has tens of thousands of 'public servants' being payed with our taxes.. a handful more is nothing. Energy could be free! IT SHOULD BE FREE! But they make stupid illogical expensive wasteful solutions that the taxpayer ends up paying for, then we get power bills on top!

* It doesn't make sense to me as to why we are building these wind farms. We are building them as a much more unreliable replacement for our coal fired power stations that are now demonised and actively encouraged to disappear.
However, hypocritically we continue to sell our coal & gas to many countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc., so that they have reliable energy to produce such items as wind turbines that are then shipped to Australia.
* The proposed 3 wind farms with 175 enormous turbines, cover just too vast an area around Coolah & Leadville. Just 1 wind farm would be a matter of concern, but a development involving 3 massive wind farms is completely too much!!
* A lot of people just want this area to remain a peaceful rural community. We aren't interested in all the possible economic advantages & likely adverse impacts (increased congestion) that this huge development would bring.
* The traffic disruption over several years is a matter of enormous concern. Much of the road network just isn't suitable for the transport of large turbine components. Lots of road upgrades would be required. All the extra truck movements during construction would greatly impact the functioning of the local road network. It's not wanted by residents just wanting their peaceful rural experience to continue.
* The location of a large range of ancillary facilities that will need to be constructed is currently unknown, and this is a matter of concern.
* All the electrical infrastructure linking the 3 large wind farms, plus the transmission cables, storage substations, etc., add up to a huge amount of extra construction work that will greatly impact the continued beauty & peacefulness of this rural location.

This project is on prime agricultural land.
Wind farm projects cause a lot of disturbance to original soil and land form having lasting effects.
Windfarms do not allow fire fighting from the air and the town of Coolah would be at great risk.

See attachment.

I object to the Valley Of The Winds wind farm following review of the published Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
* The impacts of the proposed project to our local town of Coolah, the land holders of the Coolah Valley, Turee Ck Valley and the small villages of Leadville and Uarbry. The impact on these close knit communities will be severe.
* The visual impacts on these areas will be immense. Proposed turbine heights of 250m will tower over the township of Coolah. These turbine heights are equivalent to the massive structures for the like of Sydney and Chiffley Towers in the CBD of Sydney. Combined with the Liverpool Range wind farm, there could potentially be 371 turbines surrounding the area. This is not to mention the unknown destination of high voltage transmission lines causing great anxiety for our area.
* Coolah and district residents have shown great strength and resilience through recent challenges. February 2017 survived and rallied together to fight the front and after shocks and implications of the areas most devastating 'Sir Ivan Bushfire' which razed 50,000 hectares of productive agricultural land and damaging or completely destroying assets. This rolled into two and a half years of crippling drought, and not to mention a mouse plague. The community has come out the other side of these events stronger and closer than ever before. Courage, support, resilience and friendship is what holds this and so many Australian rural communities together and is why we live where we live. Projects such as the Valley Of The Winds have enormous potential to divide our great community. Great communities cannot be valued as they are priceless. They are created over a long period of time, generations even. It goes way beyond a value.
The Valley Of The Winds Project is too much for our area. It should be abandoned in its entirety.

To Whom It May Concern
Submission regarding Valley of The Winds Wind Farm in Uarbry NSW

Hello.
My Name is Tracy, and my family owns a parcel of land in Uarbry, at Turee, Cross and Main St’s.
Overall, my family is supportive of the wind farm and its long-term benefits to the local community and to the state regarding economic growth, job creation, electrical grid capacity, and how it will positively affect areas of climate change and movement away from fossil fuels. Building this project will, we believe, add and easing to the overall electrical grid of NSW, especially as we are moving away from fossil fuels that we know negatively impact our environment.
Please note that my family owns this parcel of land and currently there are no dwellings on the property nor any person living on the land in a full-time capacity, unlike other residents of Uarbry that live in the village in a full-time capacity.
Please note that I have not had a chance to read all the literature regarding the environmental statements, or regarding traffic in full details as I was only made aware of this project at 8:30 pm on Friday the 17th of June 2022.
We do believe there are some areas to address regarding the actual construction of the Wind Farm, however we believe with proper planning and mitigation of issues that this project and its benefits far outweigh in the positive, in the long term, verse the short time issues which mainly lay with the actual construction of the wind farm.
I have detailed below issues, but I have added in my thoughts on how I think they can be mitigated. I do not believe these issues should stop the project, but I do believe they should be mitigated to help the local community.

During Construction:

Sound from ongoing construction and from vehicle movements.
The amount of vehicle movements will be something the village has never seen before. This will create noise, vibration, and wear on non-sealed roads.
You can erect a sound barrier, which will help but I would say it be a temporary measure and one removed once the project is over. It is only a short-term solution, otherwise it will ruin the village and make it look a boxed in prison. My family would not support this as a long-term measure.
This sound will also impact homes. How to mitigate this would be to have a construction schedule that does not have movements at night and starts at a certain time and ends at a certain time and on specific days. This will help residents.


Road sealing
Regarding movement of roads, I would Tar the road from the Golden Highway to Short St/Turee Steet, up to Main St and beyond. If you use gravel, you are going to have to keep relaying gravel every few weeks, you will require a water cart to water it constantly and this water will evaporate, and it will still have dust that comes up and this dust once in air currents will travel and land on grazing land and water ways and negatively impact those areas especially in the long term. If you Tar the road, this should alleviate and mitigate long term issues. Also, a Tar Road will help emergency services if every required.

Safety of Truck Movements from the Golden Highway into Short St/Turee St.
You are going to have to add a lane for vehicle safety on the Golden Highway. A very long lane. Trucks coming down from great speeds with small vehicles behind it, you need a good length to make sure this slowing down and turning is done safely. This is a long-term measure. No one wants accidents especially if a small vehicle doesn’t slow down behind a big truck with 90 metre wind turbine blades on it.

Moving large construction pieces around the Turee St and Main Street Corner.
This corner (which is the corner of my family’s property) will be one of the harder corners to navigate. I would assume require the removal of established trees along the Turee Road corridor and along Main Street. This is acceptable in the overall concept to my family as it will be needed to move construction pieces.
To mitigate this, we would require the company to replace the trees removed on a “Like for Like” basis of species and height. We would want these trees replanted on our property in nominated areas from myself. We would also like to be notified if the company has any trees left over at the end of the project to see if they can be planted on our property for wild life conservation. For safety, when these trees are removed, we would expect the trees to be stumped as well, e.g. the stump removed as well as the tree cut down to add to future safety issues when we replant trees.
There will be overlap from the trucks into the property. In fact, you might need to jack knife the end of the trucks to get around the corner, which will mean the end of the truck coming over into the property. This is acceptable to my family, however if land is used or removed from the block we must be informed of how much, when, logistics, and have that area returned to as close to its previous state as possible. The corner where you build the road will have to be wide, we would like to be kept in consultation regarding how much it impacts our property for the short and long term of the construction period and maintenance of the wind farm.
If any fencing is removed, we would expect the company to replace that fence at a level or beyond what was there.

Economics
Short term:
The short-term benefits to the local community regarding job creation, accommodation, food etc will be a vital boost for the area especially recovering economically from the pandemic, rising inflation etc. This cash injection will help at a base level for businesses to pay bills and pay employees. There is no negative to this.
Long Term:
Job creation. There is no negative to this. I would, however, hope the company moves into areas of apprentices and apprenticeships to help with this booming area of renewable's whilst creating educational opportunities.

Climate Change.
We must move into renewables now and not wait till we run out of fossil fuels or damage our environment further. We must combat climate change, and this is a progressive, positive step in the correct direction that does not have negative impacts, and this is a healthy alternative.
Also, the electricity this will generate will be required for our growing state. We are a high energy consumption state and the previous weeks have shown we require stability within our grids for available electricity and we require costings to be stable and come down in pricing.

Transmission lines, Towers, Electromagnetic Fields.
No one likes these. They are ugly and an eye sore to our landscape, but we don’t have the innovation in our current day to mitigate this. However, we can substantially mitigate this issue if we can place them away from towns/villages etc.
Electromagnetic Fields.
See above. Keep the lines away from towns/villages and this will mitigate issues. I assume the company will have detectors in place throughout the project area to consistently monitor this issue, hence this will mitigate any issue that may arise.
We would assume great care is being taken with hazardous materials and the constant watch for any environmental contamination. This consistent monitoring should mitigate any issue that arises with a good game plan behind in case there is an issue on how to safely get to the issue, deal with it, and remove it.

As I said, overall, my family supports this project as the results of economic growth, job creation, more electricity for the grid and a trickle down of hopefully more stability across the grid itself and lower pricing, as well as positive action towards climate change far outweigh the short-term issues surrounding the construction process. However, we shouldn’t ignore the construction process and do all we can to mitigate any issues for residents. I believe with the correct mitigation of issues; all sides can achieve their goals in the short term and the long term. This is a viable project with great returns for the environment and the people of the state.

Yours,

Tracy