Support to get renewables right: NSW Farmers Association
The state’s peak farm body has welcomed news that independent advice and dispute resolution services will soon be available to farming families directly impacted by the state’s renewable energy transition ... NSW Farmers Energy Transition Taskforce Chair Reg Kidd said the support had come at a critical time for regional NSW as renewable energy projects continued to be approved at a rapid pace.
Ombudsman to provide advice and dispute resolution for community members hosting renewable energy: Sharpe
For the first time, the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW will provide impartial information and an external dispute resolution service to landholders and community members impacted by new major renewable energy transmission infrastructure and renewable energy infrastructure projects ... The Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW will provide a ‘no wrong door’ referral service for residents ...
Generators arrive to remote towns in Far West
Emily McInerney. It was announced at midday Saturday ... that power has been restored, via generator, to customers living in rural areas outside of Broken Hill, after Essential Energy completed aerial inspections of the power network and confirmed it was safe to re-energise. More than 12,000 customers were impacted by unplanned outages following a storm that moved through the area on Wednesday night, bringing down transmission towers and causing damage to the electricity network.
Albury to Illabo to enter construction phase: Inland Rail
The Albury to Illabo (A2I) section of Inland Rail will enter the construction phase after the project received NSW Government planning approval on Friday. The approval from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is a significant milestone, and opens the way for construction to begin in 2025.
Ireland calls for upgrade
The low-level classification of a road servicing traffic between Bordertown, Lucindale and Kingston will be compared with similar roads by Naracoorte Lucindale Council’s administration. This follows Cr Peter Ireland’s call for the classification of several roads, including Dickensons Rd, to be reviewed and upgraded in the council's Road and Stormwater Infrastructure Management Plan. The plan includes a road hierarchy, and the matter was raised at the council's September 10 Strategic Asset and Planning (SAP) meeting.
The race to meeting renewable energy targets should not come at any cost: VFF
The Victorian Farmers Federation is urging the Victorian Government to safeguard the state’s most strategically significant agricultural land from renewable energy development. VFF President Emma Germano said the transition to renewable energy can’t come at the cost of losing the state’s most valuable farmland.
“More than a mountain of concrete” – building Warragamba Dam
Sydney has struggled with water shortages since European settlement, relying on various schemes over the years, including the Tank Stream and Botany Swamps ... Warragamba Dam remains one of the world's largest domestic water supply dams, standing alongside iconic projects like the Opera House and the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Government seeking feedback on renewables
Amidst changes to regulations and community engagement requirements, the Queensland Government is seeking feedback on its approach to renewable energy projects. Queensland is now over half way to the 2030 renewable energy target, with renewables generating over 27 per cent of Queensland’s energy needs.
Condamine candidates talk energy
Condamine candidates Pat Weir (LNP) and Elissa Parker (Greens) addressed an audience at an “Energy Done Right” Forum facilitated by the Darling Downs Environmental Council at The Irish Club in Toowoomba last week ... Questions focused on issues such as the expansion of coal seam gas into the Cecil Plains district.
Give more power to the people
Member for Indi, Helen Haines, has urged the federal government to help households bring down their power bills through improving access to home battery storage. Meeting with Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Josh Wilson, in Parliament this week, Dr Haines pushed for support of her Cheaper Home Batteries Bill in response to collapsing solar feed-in tariffs and the rising cost-of-living.
Gympie bypass opens to traffic: Albanese, King, Chisholm
...Gympie Bypass has opened to traffic, a significant improvement for residents with heavy vehicles no longer needing to travel through Gympie ... cuts travel times, improves motorist safety, access and flood immunity. The project has constructed a new 26-kilometres, four-lane divided highway between the existing Bruce Highway interchange at Woondum, just south of Gympie, and Curra.
Donald meeting questions Mineral Sands mining: Farmers have their say
Emotions ran high and voices rose with them at the Donald Mineral Sands community information session held at the Memorial Hall on Thursday, with a group of frustrated farmers taking the opportunity to protest one of the many large scale projects earmarked for the region. Trucks, tractors and other agricultural machinery lined the streets, signed with phrases such as: “No Mines, No Turbines, No Transmission Lines!”
“Thousands of jobs from wind tower manufacture”
Australia could create more than 4300 quality direct jobs by making its own wind towers instead of importing them, according to new research by the Centre for Future Work. At present, all wind towers installed in Australia are imported from overseas with most coming from China. Centre for Future Work’s research found a domestic wind energy sector would generate: 4,350 ongoing jobs in wind tower manufacturing, and thousands more in input industries, especially steel.
Do you have an RFDS airstrip? Time to update your information
Over the past 20 years, RFDS has operated across more than 300 airstrips throughout Far West and Western NSW. Some of these, such as the service's regular clinic airstrips, are part of routine flights, whilst others are access in emergency situations. With so many airstrips available to the RFDS, it is crucial they maintain up-to-date information for each location.
A bridge by any other name”¦ council chooses eight new names
Eight bridges are being named by Richmond Valley Council. These are the names: Hansens Bridge, Monaghans Bridge, Whiteside Bridge, Trustums Bridge, Mathers Bridge, Nowlans Bridge, Watsons Bridge and One Tree Crossing. What do you think of the names?
Powercor regulatory reset 2026-2031
On the back of last week’s storms, Powercor has announced a plan to strengthen the power network against more frequent and extreme weather events ... A $3.3 billion plan to deliver a stronger power network to better withstand extreme weather, support more electric vehicles and enhance reliability in regional areas has been unveiled by electricity distributor Powercor...
Tourism gets a fresh charge
The Snowy Valleys region is set to become an even better destination for electric vehicle (EV) owners with the installation of ten public EV charging stations. Snowy Hydro is supporting Snowy Valleys Council (SVC) to install and maintain the new charging stations which will be strategically located in Khancoban, Adelong, Talbingo, Tumbarumba and Tumut.
New solar farm in New South Wales to power 191,000 homes: Plibersek
The 450 megawatt Goulburn River Solar Farm is located 28km south-west of Merriwa and includes the construction of 1 million solar panels, a battery storage system and local road upgrades. The project is located between the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) and the Hunter-Central Coast REZ, and will have direct access to the existing electricity transmission network.
A prospect of independent power
GWMWater has recently provided an update on a study entitled “Donald Community Power Plant Study” investigating the feasibility of a community power plant and potential microgrid infrastructure to supply the residents of Donald with locally harvested and stored green energy. This is not the first time the concept has been investigated for the town.
New solar farm in Queensland to power 160,000 homes: Plibersek
The Albanese Government has approved a new solar farm in Queensland which will generate enough energy to power 160,000 homes. The 350 megawatt Sixteen Mile Solar Farm is located around 22km south of Chinchilla and includes the construction of 579,660 solar panels and a 120MW battery storage system. The project will connect to the existing Western Downs Substation.
Australian posties helping assess regional mobile coverage: Rowland
Part of the Government’s Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia, the audit will test around 180,000 km of regional and rural roads across the country, capturing data to better determine coverage and capacity of the mobile network signals ... Australia Post will host mobile-measurement devices on delivery vans and long-haul delivery vehicles. They will cover a significant portion of the regional and rural roads to be tested through the audit.
Still no clear answer or solution on Wilcannia Weir
The Department of Planning and Environment (Water) advised some months ago that there would be an independent review of the original design of the Wilcannia weir. Several names were recommended to the department by the community to form membership of the Independent Review Panel.
