THE company behind the Yanco Solar Farm proposal has been forced to make some amendments to its plans following several concerns from the community.
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In response to Leeton Shire Council and community concerns to the ib vogt project, the proposed site access point on Research Road has been relocated.
The solar farm design has also been amended to allow for a larger setback from the nearest dwelling to the site and additional landscape planting is proposed to screen the site from neighbouring properties.
The company has also guaranteed the decommissioning all of the solar farm infrastructure and its removal at the cost of the owner of the solar farm.
ib vogt met with council on July 24 to provide an update and hear its concerns.
Mayor Paul Maytom noted there were many solar farms proposed within the MIA, but reaffirmed his concerns that irrigated agriculture is at risk.
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"ib vogt understands there are currently five operating, approved or proposed utility scale solar farms in the MIA (including the Yanco proposal), with a combined area of around 518 hectares," ib vogt spokesman Jenny Walsh said.
"This represents 0.3 per cent of the 170,000 hectares of irrigated land in the MIA.
"The proposed $100 million solar farm would provide a significant local construction stimulus of $560,000 (non-local worker spending) and an ongoing economic stimulus of $14.3 million over 30 years (landowner lease payments, council rates revenue and new wage spending), as well as revenue from clean energy generation.
"In addition, ib vogt would contribute $15,000 per year into a community fund for the life of the project."
According to the compnay, during the solar farm's 10-month construction phase, the proposal will support up to 120 full-time jobs and 190 indirect jobs.
The project has been given support from the Leeton Business Chamber president Wayne Bond.
"I believe it will provide both direct and indirect economic stimulus into Leeton shire through employment and local service provision opportunities," he said.
"This is a great investment opportunity for the town."
ib vogt has also consulted extensively with Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI), which has no concerns with the project as it adheres to their development guidelines.
There is no MI infrastructure located within the proposal site and it has confirmed there would be no stranded assets or infrastructure as a result of the proposal.
The Yanco proposal would utilise approximately 200 hectares of irrigated land that represents around 0.1 per cent of all the irrigated land within the MIA.
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