Dundonnell Wind Farm
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Environment Effects Act 1978 Planning and Environment Act 1987 EES Inquiry and Planning Permit Applications Panel Report Dundonnell Wind Farm 11 January 2016 Environment Effects Act 1978 Planning and Environment Act 1987 EES Inquiry and Planning Permit Applications Panel Report Dundonnell Wind Farm 11 January 2016 Nick Wimbush, Chair Rod Gowans, Member Doug Munro, Member Dundonnell Wind Farm EES Inquiry and Planning Permit Applications Panel Report 11 January 2016 Contents Page Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 1 PART A: BACKGROUND 1 Background ................................................................................................................. 6 1.1 The proposal and project area ................................................................................ 6 1.2 Project approvals ..................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Inquiry process ...................................................................................................... 10 PART B – ENVIRONMENT EFFECTS ASSESSMENT 2 Approach to the assessment of environment effects ................................................ 14 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Evaluation objectives............................................................................................. 14 2.3 Environmental Management Framework ............................................................. 14 3 Flora and fauna ......................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Wind farm .............................................................................................................. 15 3.3 Transmission line ................................................................................................... 39 3.4 Procedural issue .................................................................................................... 43 4 Landscape, visual amenity and geoscience values ..................................................... 45 4.1 Landscape and visual amenity ............................................................................... 45 4.2 Geoscience values ................................................................................................. 49 5 Traffic and transport ................................................................................................. 51 5.1 Wind farm .............................................................................................................. 51 5.2 Quarry .................................................................................................................... 56 5.3 Transmission line and substation .......................................................................... 58 6 Noise and vibration ................................................................................................... 61 6.1 Wind farm construction noise ............................................................................... 61 6.2 Wind farm operational noise ................................................................................ 62 6.3 Quarry .................................................................................................................... 72 7 Cultural heritage ....................................................................................................... 77 7.1 Aboriginal cultural heritage ................................................................................... 77 7.2 Historic cultural heritage ....................................................................................... 78 8 Surface and groundwater .......................................................................................... 80 8.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 80 8.2 Surface water ........................................................................................................ 80 8.3 Groundwater ......................................................................................................... 82 9 Other issues .............................................................................................................. 85 9.1 Land use and socio‐economic effects ................................................................... 85 9.2 Health effects ........................................................................................................ 86 9.3 Aviation lighting ..................................................................................................... 89 9.4 Fire fighting ............................................................................................................ 91 Dundonnell Wind Farm EES Inquiry and Planning Permit Applications Panel Report 11 January 2016 9.5 Other matters ........................................................................................................ 93 10 Integrated assessment and environmental management framework ....................... 94 10.1 Net community benefit and ecologically sustainable development .................... 94 10.2 Environmental Management Framework ............................................................. 95 PART C: COMMONWEALTH MATTERS 11 Matters of National Environmental Significance ....................................................... 97 11.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 97 11.2 Evidence and submissions ..................................................................................... 98 11.3 Discussion and conclusions ................................................................................. 100 11.4 Findings ................................................................................................................ 101 PART D: PLANNING PERMITS 12 The planning permit applications ............................................................................ 103 12.1 The Wind energy facility, Permit 2015/23858 .................................................... 103 12.2 The Utility installation (transmission line), Permit PL15/075 ............................. 105 12.3 The Utility installation (off‐site substation), Permit PL15/074 ........................... 107 Appendix A Submitters to the Inquiry Appendix B Terms of Reference Appendix C Document list Appendix D Correspondence between Inquiry and DELWP Appendix E Recommended permit conditions List of Tables Page Table 1 Parties to the Inquiry hearing ................................................................................ 11 Table 2 Percentage bat activity across the wind farm site ................................................ 22 Table 3 Decision guidelines summary – wind farm ......................................................... 104 Table 4 Decision guidelines summary – transmission line .............................................. 106 Table 5 Decision guidelines summary ‐ substation .......................................................... 107 List of Figures Page Figure 1 Site Layout Plan ....................................................................................................... 7 Figure 2 Revised Turbine Layout ........................................................................................... 8 Dundonnell Wind Farm EES Inquiry and Planning Permit Applications Panel Report 11 January 2016 List of Abbreviations CHMP Cultural Heritage Management Plan CRM Collision Risk Modelling DELWP Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning DEPI Department of Environment and Primary Industries (former) DEWHA Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Cth) DTPLI Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (former) EEA Environment Effects Act 1978 (Vic) EES Environment Effects Statement EPA Environment Protection Authority EPBC Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) EVC Ecological Vegetation Class FFG Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic) LPPF Local Planning Policy Framework LVIA Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment MNES Matters of National Environmental Significance MPS Mortlake Power Station (existing gas fired power station) MRSDA Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 (Vic) MSS Municipal Strategic Statement MW Megawatts NIA Noise Impact Assessment ODV Over Dimensional Vehicle P&E Act Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) PPG Policy and planning guidelines for development of wind energy facilities in Victoria, June 2015 PVA Population Viability Analysis RAP Registered Aboriginal Party SLO Significant Landscape Overlay SPPF State Planning Policy Framework SWVLAS South West Victoria Landscape Assessment Study TIA Traffic Impact Assessment TMP Traffic Management Plan TOR Terms of Reference Dundonnell Wind Farm EES Inquiry and Planning Permit Applications Panel Report 11 January 2016 Executive Summary The Dundonnell Wind Farm is a proposal for a large wind farm of 104 turbines up to 165 metres high at Dundonnell, about 20 kilometres north west of Darlington in western Victoria. The proposal comprises many elements including an on‐site quarry, on‐site groundwater