The company behind the One Sun Uriarra solar farm has lodged a development application this week, which it says shifts the solar array further from residents of the rural village, in light of their concerns.
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But details of the plan have not been released, and no information was available on Monday on how far the array is to be moved form the original plan. Consultant Rob Purdon said the solar company, Elementus Energy, had "endeavoured to move the solar farm on Uriarra Station as far from Brindabella Road as has been possible and practical", but he did not give details.
"Our understanding of the concerns of Uriarra residents was that the solar farm should be moved to an entirely different location out of their area. That has not happened. There are constraints to how far away from Brindabella Road the solar farm can be moved because it's on someone else's property and there's agreement as to where the solar farm is located," he said.
The arrray is one of three projects to win funding through 20-year deals with the ACT Government that guarantee a feed-in price for their solar energy. It would produce 12,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year, enough to power 2250 households, managing director Ashleigh Antflick said.
The array had been shifted to create the "largest possible" setback distance. A larger planting zone had been incorporated between the array and Brindabella Road and the main entry had been moved east so it was further from the village, minimising disruption and vehicle movements in the village.
Resident and village spokeswoman Jess Agnew said she wanted the array, which was just 115 metres from her front door in the original proposal, moved one kilometre, but the developer had been adamant at a community meeting it would not be moved.
She, too, was yet to see the detail of the new plan. If it did address residents' concerns she would throw "one of the biggest parties you've ever seen". But she was doubtful.
"What can we can say without seeing the plans? We really are in the dark still," Ms Agnew said. "I'm hopeful, obviously, however this company, they’re a business, they stand to make a hell of a lot of money from this solar farm, let's not pretend that they're not going to. So they're going to spindoctor things to make themselves look good. So I'm very dubious."
Ms Agnew said she supported solar and many residents of the village had solar panels on their roofs, but the planned array was an industrial site on the back door of a rural area. The sublease covered more than 800 hectares so there was plenty of space to put the array elsewhere, she said.
Liberal spokesman Andrew Wall said it was disappointing that Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell had not acted on residents' concerns and found an alternative site.
"The letter that went out to residents identifies changes made to the original proposal. What shape those actual changes take from the original proposal I, like the rest of the community, am still waiting to see.
"But it's fair to say Elementus does stand to gain substantial benefit from this project on the back of ACT ratepayers and it is essential that residents continue to have input into the final development," he said.
Mr Wall said bushfire protection issues must be dealt with and the rural village atmosphere maintained.
A spokesman for Mr Corbell said he could provide no detail until the project was notified later this week. Once notified, there would be 15 working days for public comment.