Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Cooba solar project

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:10): (1558) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Planning, and the action that I seek is that the minister reject planning application 2403122, lodged by Venn Energy, for a permit to use and develop land in Colbinabbin for a solar energy facility. The minister must deny a permit for this solar project because it contravenes planning guidelines in two key aspects. First, it will take valuable agricultural land out of production, and second, it will ruin the landscape, values and views of the area by turning a beautiful pastoral scene into an eyesore of metal and glass.

According to the Campaspe planning scheme, the proposed site is within the farming zone, and clause 35 in the planning scheme gives a clear imperative to retain and protect our productive agricultural land, which we will need in future as Victoria’s population continues to grow. The proposed Cooba solar project will violate these principles by carpeting 665 hectares of prime agricultural land in the Heathcote wine region with over 700,000 solar panels and over a hundred batteries the size of shipping containers. The Victorian government’s own Solar Energy Facilities: Design and Development Guideline 2022 states that a solar energy facility should not lead to the loss of productive state-significant agricultural land. The guideline specifies that agricultural land is high value and strategically important when it combines several features like high-quality soil, good rainfall, access to water and industry infrastructure. The proposed site enjoys all these features. It sits adjacent to major road infrastructure, has good water access from 16 dams onsite, is connected to the Colbinabbin–Cornella irrigation pipeline and has soil rated high-quality or good. This is clearly strategic agricultural land that should be protected by planning scheme guidelines.

Planning guidelines also say that building projects in the farm zone should avoid adverse impacts on vistas, and clause 53 of the planning scheme, which governs renewable energy proposals, requires them to consider the impact of the project on significant views, including visual corridors and sightlines. There are over 40 wineries along the Heathcote-Rochester Road, and thousands of tourists visit the area to sample world-class wines while enjoying the beautiful views from the eastern slope of the Mount Camel range. The Cooba solar project will put 700,000 solar panels that are over 5 metres high right in the sightline of the wineries. The vineyards and cellar doors on the elevated eastern side of Mount Camel range are 80 to 120 metres above the proposed site, and no amount of landscape screening will reduce the negative visual impact of the solar facility. The minister must deny this application for a permit to build this solar facility.