Woomelang was a sight to behold last Thursday June 12, as vehicles, farm machinery, fire trucks and an extensive range of protest signs and banners lined the streets to mark Cubico Sustainable Investments’ first public visit to the district.

The “No Go Cubico” rally, organised by dozens of unwilling neighbours to the proposed Curyo Wind Farm, saw over one hundred impacted neighbours accept the invitation to attend.

A barbecue breakfast kicked off the day’s proceedings, ahead of the first of Cubico’s three scheduled Neighbour Information Sessions.

Whilst Cubico only mailed an invitation to a small number of impacted neighbours, the Woomelang Memorial Hall’s supper room was soon filled to capacity as six Cubico employees found themselves hosting an impromptu question and answer session spanning an hour and twenty minutes.

Both the Wimmera Mallee Environmental and Agricultural Protection Association Inc (WMEAP) and Billboard Battalion live-streamed the occasion on social media, drawing in a wide audience from across the district and beyond.

ABC Radio’s Angus Verley also attended, having previously covered the topic on the Country Hour and Rural Report.

Though neighbours’ knowledge of the proposal’s existence spanned anywhere from several years to just a matter of months, all were armed with questions they have been desperate to receive answers for.

Through persistent questioning, the audience were able to learn that all potential hosts had only signed access agreements to date, allowing Cubico to conduct monitoring on their land. As no lease agreements have currently been signed, potential hosts don’t yet have caveats placed on their land titles.

VicGrid’s May 2025 draft proposal has deleted the Buloke Shire, home to three wind farm proposals, as a Renewable Energy Zone due to the intense landowner opposition to renewables and the delayed VNI West transmission line.

Though the project was originally designed to coincide with the delivery of VNI West, Cubico revealed that they are now seeking to connect their 1000MW proposal to the at-capacity Horsham-Red Cliffs transmission line, crossing through farmland in the Rosebery/Beulah area.

Projects such as Cubico’s, that fall out of the draft REZ zones, now have to undertake a Grid Impact Assessment to access existing transmission lines.

Cubico is also competing with WestWind Energy’s proposed 1,575 MW Warracknabeal Energy Park proposal and Horsham’s under construction SEC Solar Park for access to any future line upgrades.

An isolated pocket of proposed turbines, just 2.5 kilometres north west of Woomelang, is also in doubt due to the difficulties in laying underground cables across neighbouring paddocks. The town still faces close range turbines two kilometres to the south, however, drawing concern from residents regarding, noise, infrasound and shadow flicker.

Fire safety

Fire safety, from the turbines and co-located battery storage, was of high importance with the many CFA members in attendance stating their unwillingness to attend turbine or battery fires due to safety concerns.

Cubico proposed to have a team of up to ten employees on hand, trained to volunteer firefighter standards, to combat any incidents.

The impact on farmers’ ability to spray crops, BPA blade shedding reducing crop yields, grain and livestock contamination, and changes to the local climate, were questions that Cubico promised to provide more information on at a later date.

Other farming concerns included the turbines impact on GPS signals rendering farm machinery inoperable, and false readings from the weather radar as currently observed at Murra Warra.

Health and safety

Health and safety concerns such as infrasound and electromagnetic radiation were swiftly countered with studies claiming no impacts on human health.

Cubico assured that they were responsible for decommissioning the project at the end of its life, pledging to also remove some of the concrete from each turbine location.

A smaller group of eight neighbours attended the Saturday session, which coincided with weekend sport.

Cubico confirmed that potential hosts were quoted on the maximum number of turbines that could fit on their land, but were made aware that environmental, noise and other studies would more than likely reduce the number of turbines they could actually expect to receive.

Cubico proposed to work with impacted neighbours to have turbines moved in the case where one kilometre buffer zones impact a neighbour’s ability to build a new dwelling on their land, a stark contrast to other developers in the region who have headed to VCAT to protect their project boundaries.

The Cubico staff thanked the community for their passionate response to the consultation, promising to take the feedback to the company.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 17 June 2025.