{"id":36835,"date":"2020-01-28T05:42:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T19:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=36835"},"modified":"2020-01-28T05:42:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T19:12:20","slug":"loddon-shire-solar-mb1383","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/loddon-shire-solar-mb1383\/","title":{"rendered":"Loddon Shire Council To Decide On Solar Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bendigo

Image: BayWa r.e<\/p><\/div>\n

A meeting of Loddon Shire councillors this afternoon may decide the fate of a proposed BayWa r.e. solar energy project not far from Bendigo in Victoria.<\/p>\n

The Shire of Loddon is located in the northern part of Victoria, covering an area of 6,696 square kilometres and home to a population of around 7,500.<\/p>\n

BayWa r.e is wanting the go-ahead for a 55MW(ac) facility to be constructed around about eight kilometres east of the town of Bridgewater, with battery storage (capacity not mentioned) to be added post-development.<\/p>\n

The project’s chances are looking pretty good with no objections lodged and a recommendation from Loddon Shire’s strategic planner that Council grant<\/a> a planning permit for the development.<\/p>\n

While the site is currently used for farming purposes, it is not considered “high quality” agricultural land. Only three trees will need to be removed and those will be offset in accordance with the State’s requirements.<\/p>\n

BayWa r.e. says once endorsed, the Planning Application will be available for download from the project’s web site<\/a>, which is very light on detail at the moment.<\/p>\n

This project has been assessed against the State Government’s Large-Scale Solar Guideline<\/a>, which was released in July last year in response to some Victorian councils experiencing difficulties in arriving at decisions in relation to solar farm development applications. The situation resulted in a number of cases being referred to the State Government for a final decision.<\/p>\n

Large-Scale Solar Energy In Loddon Shire<\/h2>\n

According to the Australian PV Institute’s map<\/a>, there are currently three large-scale solar power facilities operating in the Loddon Shire local government area (LGA):<\/p>\n