More than 30 local community members from Linton and surrounding areas joined a workshop last night to have their say on the community investment program for the proposed Moreton Hill Wind Farm.
The session covered how community benefit sharing works, with attendees providing their views on the prioritisation of projects and governance of the program.
Squadron Energy Senior Project Manager, Laura Jeffrey, said the discussion explored a range of options, from smaller grants supporting local biodiversity initiatives to larger, long-term investments in community legacy infrastructure.
“I want to thank the local community for their ideas on how Squadron Energy can help make this great community even better,” she said.
“We aim to partner with local communities early, solve problems, and leave regions stronger, and last night was a first step in this process locally.
“In addition to what we heard last night, the workshop built on our engagement with the community over the past few years.
“We have collated views and input from landowners and neighbours, to help shape the project, as well as the broader community, via direct conversations, open days and online surveys,” Ms Jeffrey said.
Squadron Energy will be back in the community in the Skipton area soon to hear more ideas for community investment.
The planning permit application for Moreton Hill Wind Farm is now in its final stages ahead of submission to the Victorian Minister for Planning and community members will be notified when the application is going to be on public exhibition.
The proposed Moreton Hill Wind Farm will have up to 62 wind turbines, generate up to 420MW of electricity, and have 150MW of battery energy storage – enough to power up to 260,000 homes each year.
Community members are encouraged to sign up to the Moreton Hill Wind Farm newsletter to stay up to date and get involved in future conversations about the project.