A proposed solar farm near Armidale could provide clean energy to about 2150 households locally - but some nearby residents oppose it, arguing the site is too close to town.
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ITP Development wants to construct a 12.6 hectare, 16,000 module solar farm at Petersons Armidale Winery & Guesthouse, 347 Dangarsleigh Road, 4 km southeast of town.
Some nearby residents, however, are concerned, like Huntly Gordon.
"The solar farm is completely inappropriate for this quite closely settled area," Mr Gordon said. He worries the farm is too close to town, and surrounded by new housing developments on hills.
The farm needs to be on the fringe of town to connect to the electricity network, according to ITP.
"When choosing sites," solar farm portfolio manager Mishka Talent responded, "we consider a variety of factors, including proximity to good quality network infrastructure, council and state zoning restrictions, topography, and vegetation."
The company lodged its application with Armidale Regional Council last month. The public can inspect the plans at Council's website and respond until Wednesday, December 11.
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The Petersons Solar Farm would be one of more than a dozen ITP projects under development around NSW.
"The scale of each project is designed to match current and projected future demands for electricity (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial) within a given community," Mr Talent said.
Zenith Town Planning in its Statement of Environmental Effects said the site was suitable for the proposed development of the solar farm.
Any impacts on biodiversity, natural hazards, visual and scenic amenity, glare and glint, traffic, noise, air quality, waste management, water resources, indigenous and non-indigenous heritage, the community and the local economy were acceptable. Zenith recommended mitigation measures where necessary.
The solar farm would take about three months to construct, according to ITP. Building work would only take place on weekdays during daylight hours (7am to 4pm). The site would be unmanned, and maintained quarterly by a small crew.
Once operational, ITP claim, there would be little noise (solar farms are almost silent); glare (the panels are designed to absorb sunlight, not reflect it); or visual impact (the panels are only about 2 metres high).
Property values, ITP argue, would not be affected. While there are no known studies on solar farms' effect on property values, they point to research (including from the NSW Valuer-General in 2009 and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage in 2016) that found sale prices of properties near similar wind farms did not reduce.
The site will be returned to pre-development land use once operations cease.
ITP claim the solar farm would benefit local communities. Besides providing clean energy to the region, they say, the farm would be a reliable income for landholders over the 25 to 45 years of the farmers' lifetime, which can protect them from loss of income during drought. It would, they say, also boost the economy and create jobs.
ITP Renewables, part of the international ITP Energised Group, was established in Australia in 2003. Australia-based employees own 95 per cent of its shares. Finance to support solar farm project development, ITP stated, would be sourced locally in Australia, from a panel of investment partners.