Latest news with #PortFairy
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Not financially viable: Australia's first commercial wind farm set to be decommissioned
Australia's first commercial wind farm is set to be decommissioned, as the company who owns it reveals it is no longer 'financially viable'. Renewable energy company Pacific Blue announced the Codrington wind farm, located near Port Fairy in southwest Victoria, is set to be decommissioned, as it is 'approaching the end of its technical life'. 'At this stage, Pacific Blue is not pursuing a repowering option for Codrington,' a statement from the company said. 'The site's grid connection would require significant upgrades and today's turbine siting requirements would preclude the installation of latest generation turbines which can have an output of over five times that of Codrington's current turbines. 'The company's analysis considered the limitations of space on the site and necessary upgrades to modernise the grid equipment, ultimately resolving that a new project at Codrington is not financially viable for this location.' The wind farm has been in operation for 25 years, and was officially opened by former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks in July 2001. The Codrington site was described by Pacific Blue as 'close to perfect', as it was placed to receive the full force of winds blowing off the Southern Ocean. Each year, the wind farm generated enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 10,000 Victorian homes and prevented 49,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – the equivalent of taking more than 17,000 cars off the roads, according to Pacific Blue. More than $9m was injected into the regional economy during construction and development and about 30 jobs were created with local companies contracted to install roads, foundations, towers, transformers and cabling to make the farm operational. Pacific Blue said they were 'deeply committed' to engaging with the communities surrounding Codrington and in southwest Victoria throughout the decommissioning process. 'The company also needs to account for the needs and preferences of the site's landholders, whom it has successfully partnered with for over 25 years,' a statement said. 'Pacific Blue is grateful for their continued support on this project.' Pacific Blue also said it is exploring how the 14 wind turbines, which have a hub height of 50m and blade tip height of 81m, could be recycled. 'The company is focused on delivering a thorough, respectful, and industry-leading decommissioning of Codrington Wind Farm, which includes exploring recycling options for as much of the site's infrastructure as possible while upholding safety and environmental expectations,' a statement said. The company confirmed the turbines will be dismantled by crane. The company is engaging with industry leaders to explore how best to recycle the blades, with options successfully executed overseas in the past including transforming them into surf boards and 'glamping pods'. Last year, Queensland MP Mick de Brenni was spotted wearing sneakers made from recycled wind turbine blades. In a statement, Pacific Blue revealed broader community and stakeholder engagement was planned for the second half of 2025. Permit conditions require the decommissioning to be completed within 12 months of the wind farm ceasing to generate electricity. Pacific Blue operates wind farms, hydro plants and solar farms across Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and NSW. Codrington's decommission prompted calls to the Federal government from the Smart Energy Council to mandate a national product stewardship scheme so 'smart energy solutions don't become tomorrow's waste crisis'.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Why 14 turbines at one of Australia's first wind farms are about to be torn down - marking the end of an era
Australian's first commercial wind farm is set to be painstakingly dismantled by cranes as the turbines reach the end of their 20-year lifespan. Sitting on rolling green hills overlooking Port Fairy in southwest Victoria, Pacific Blue's Codrington Windfarm is considered a 'close to perfect' location for wind towers. When the site opened in 2001, it was not only Australia's first commercial windfarm but also the largest of any kind in the country. The wind farm generates enough energy required to power 10,000 homes each year while avoiding the emission of nearly 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases. But almost 24 years later, the site's 14 50metre-high turbines are among the first of its generation to approach the end of their working lives. Pacific Blue said it hopes to become a renewables industry leader 'twice over' in its approach to dismantling the turbines using cranes. The project is a massive undertaking but is more likely to win the approval of surrounding communities than the alternative method of using explosives. 'A decision was recently made that all turbines at the Codrington Wind Farm will be disassembled onsite through the use of cranes in the reverse order of how the turbines were assembled,' a Pacific Blue spokesperson told Renew Economy. 'This project is the first of its kind in Australia and we take this responsibility very seriously.' Earlier this year, Pacific Blue announced it would not be repowering the ageing turbines and would, instead, explore options for their decommissioning. According to the company, which is headquartered east of the wind farm in Melbourne, the site is no longer commercially viable. To keep the site operational, its grid connection would require significant upgrades. And if the company were to replace the turbines with more modern equivalents, spacing requirements would preclude the installation of any more than four. 'The company's analysis considered the limitations of space on the site and necessary upgrades to modernise the grid equipment, ultimately resolving that a new project at Codrington is not financially viable for this location,' it said in a statement. Pacific Blue said permit conditions require the turbines to be decommissioned within 12 months after the farm stops generating power. According to Re-Alliance, 85 wind farms across Australia are due to retire by 2045. Given the relatively young age of Australia's wind farm industry, the question of how best to decommission retirement-age farms remains an open one. 'Pacific Blue has a long-standing relationship with the communities surrounding Codrington and its other four wind farms operating in the region,' the company said. 'The company will continue to engage with them regularly throughout the decommissioning. 'Broader community and stakeholder engagement is planned for the second half of 2025, once a clearer timeline for final generation is established and regulatory approvals for the decommissioning plan are in place.'
ABC News
13-05-2025
- ABC News
Victorian sisters abused by paedophile priest say High Court decision has halted quest for compensation
Sisters Bernie and Trish have not had a restful night since they were abused by a paedophile priest in the 1970s. "You don't sleep afterwards like a normal human sleeps. You're never carefree again,'' Bernie said. To sleep soundly, the sisters need to know no-one can come through their bedroom doors, so their husbands made them special wooden jams to lock them in place. "You can have happy days, and you can do things, but you're not that innocent,'' Bernie said. "You never, ever become that carefree kid." The sisters were abused by notorious paedophile priest Bryan Coffey — who is now dead — and the pair are pursuing the Catholic Church for compensation. But the sisters' legal pursuit is in jeopardy after the High Court made it harder to find the church vicariously liable. Coffey was never convicted of the women's abuse, but Trish received a letter of apology from the Ballarat bishop's office in 2015. Another victim, known as "DP", was also abused by Coffey when he was a five year old in Port Fairy in south-west Victoria. In 2021, he was awarded $200,000 by two Victorian courts, which found the church was vicariously liable for the harm caused by Coffey. But the church appealed that ruling to the High Court and won, because Coffey was not an employee — instead, he had a relationship of a spiritual nature with the church. "It's really, really shit to do it when they have knowledge that he did this to us." The landmark decision late last year has placed pressure on state governments to retrospectively change the law. "We just need someone to listen to say that this is not right. We need to make these changes to help everyone. It's unfair that every time they find an avenue, a new lawyer finds a new way of doing things [to defend the church],'' Trish said. On Wednesday, Victoria's upper house will debate a private member's bill to hold institutions to account by making it easier to find them vicariously liable. The idea that Coffey was not an employee is fanciful, the sisters said. Their lawyer and longtime victim-survivor advocate Judy Courtin said Victoria used to be a leader in tackling institutional abuse, but was falling behind. "Once again, and despite all the work done by the royal commission, parliament and others to ensure victims of institutional child abuse might receive justice, the church has secured dispensation from responsibility, this time via a technical argument before the High Court,'' Dr Courtin said in a letter to the state's Attorney-General. Ms Courtin said some of her clients pursuing similar action were suicidal as a result of the High Court ruling. Law reform has the backing of various victim-survivor groups and the Australian Lawyers Alliance. The issue has been taken to the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, where it has been discussed, but no plan of action has been developed. Victoria is under pressure, including from government MPs, to act first. The Legalise Cannabis Party bill to retrospectively change the law is the first step, and the party has tabled a similar bill in the NSW. "This is about victims and survivors having opportunity to tell their story, to have their day in court and an opportunity to heal,'' Victorian Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne said. Her NSW colleague Jeremy Buckingham said the High Court decision invited the states to legislate. "It is deeply immoral and unreasonable that subsequent to the High Court's decision the perpetrators and the institutions in which they served cannot be held liable for these abhorrent crimes. The current situation cannot stand, and we will continue to fight until the law is changed,'' he said. Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny has met with victim groups and is considering options for reform. The state's preference is for a national approach. "We have always sent a clear message to child abuse survivors — we stand with you in your fight for justice and always will,'' Ms Kilkenny said. The Victorian government will not support the Legalise Cannabis Party bill as it believes it is too broad. "We would need to do more work to understand the legal risks and potential unintended impacts on community, volunteer and not-for-profit organisations,'' Ms Kilkenny said. NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said he understood "the High Court's finding relating to vicarious lability for institutional child sexual abuse is upsetting and traumatising for victim-survivors". "NSW in 2018 changed the law to extend vicarious liability to individuals who are akin to employees, such as priests and volunteers, but that amendment was not retrospective," he said. "The Standing Council of Attorneys-General has agreed to consider the impacts of the High Court decision and potential options for reform." Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird said the church believed the Victorian court's decision to impose vicarious liability on the diocesan community was "excessively broad" and "unjust". He said that prompted the decision to take the issue to the High Court. "The Victorian court's decision seemed to me so vague as to mean that a diocesan community could be held vicariously liable for any actions that a priest did anywhere, anytime. I consider that it would be unfair to impose such a wide liability on a diocesan community,'' he said. Bishop Bird also said there would be "additional unfairness" if the state introduced a retrospective fix. He said the diocese would continue to provide compensation in cases where there was evidence it had been negligent in safeguarding. Trish believed the church was deliberately trying to stall the legal process, hoping that people like her and her sister would die. "A lot of their victims are getting older and sicker, or a lot are dying and a lot have [died by] suicide. I think they think we will eventually die out and it'll all be cleaned up," she said. When the girls were growing up in Ouyen, in the Mallee in Victoria's north-west, in the 1970s, they did not realise they were both being abused. Thinking about life before the abuse is too painful. "You don't want to think about that time," Bernie said. "So, you lose all the happy memories pre the time, because you just don't want to think backwards. "So, all the fun stuff … I won't even go there." "It seems disrespectful to our families, but it's just hard,'' Trish said.
