Region has little concern on climate change

People in the Goulburn region are less concerned about climate change than the rest of Victoria, according to a Sustainability Victoria survey.

Only 56 per cent of people surveyed in the Goulburn region, including Shepparton, were concerned about climate change, compared to 78 per cent in Victoria as a whole and 81 per cent in Greater Melbourne.

While Goulburn region residents were just as sceptical about climate change as other Victorians, 58 per cent agreed it was an issue requiring urgent actions immediately, compared with 78 per cent in Victoria.

Sustainability Victoria lead social researcher Dianna McDonald said there was also a troubling ‘‘perception gap’’.

She said when the Victorians who believed in climate change and action were asked how many other people thought the same, they said 48 per cent.

‘‘The reality is different to what they perceive,’’ she said.

‘‘This is not a good thing because they’re less likely to act, talk about and support action when they feel like they’re in a minority.’’

However, Ms McDonald said when the seven per cent of Victorians who were climate change sceptics were asked, they said about half thought like them.

‘‘Even though the sceptics are under 10 per cent, they think half the population thinks the same, so they’re emboldened,” she said.

Ms McDonald has been discussing the results of the Victorians’ Perceptions of Climate Change report around Victoria, stopping off in Shepparton last week.

She said the report was released about a year-and-a-half ago, surveying 210 Goulburn region residents and 3333 people across the state.

Although Goulburn region residents may not be as concerned about climate change as the rest of Victoria, 84 per cent believed they could take meaningful action, also showing strong support for renewable energy.

Ms McDonald also said the recent bushfires may have increased Victorians’ concerns about climate change.

‘‘The survey shows there’s a gap between the Federal Government’s action and what people want,’’ she said.

Story from The Shepparton News - “Region has little concern on climate change.”

Region is heating up: Heat raise alarms for fire danger in north-east area

Shepparton is set to sweat with temperatures above 25°C for the next 48 hours, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting the state’s first burst of summer heat.

After two weeks of mild temperatures across Victoria, the heat has arrived, raising alarms for fire danger in the north-east area.

Bureau senior meteorologist Richard Carlyon said concerns were justified by lack of rainfall documented and scheduled strong winds.

‘‘Over the last six weeks or so there has been very little rainfall. 

Normally spring can be one of the wetter times of the year, but we just haven’t seen any rain bands develop ahead of cold fronts,’’ he said.

‘‘It has been very dry of late and as temperatures increase, particularly with these windy changes the fire dangers can escalate very quickly.’’

Mr Carlyon said temperatures were set to ease later this afternoon from a northerly wind, which would prepare the state for tomorrow’s heat.

‘‘The temperature will be in the high 20s to low 30s for most of tonight,’’ he said.

‘‘The short burst of heat has come through from Western Australia and it’s only just glancing over Victoria for about 48 hours, which will be followed by some mild weather heading to the weekend.’’

Strong winds are scheduled for the state tomorrow.

Mr Carlyon said winds across central and eastern ranges caused concern.

‘‘The winds look to be strong during the morning . . . a warning for damaging winds may be issued at that time,’’ he said.

Story from The Shepparton News by Madeline Bryan - “Region is heating up: Heat raise alarms for fire danger in north-east area.”

Climate change tackled

Goulburn Valley Water plans to install solar systems on its land and infrastructure in Shepparton to tackle climate change.

An example of what is planned by GV Water to help Victoria
reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

GV Water will be rolling out solar systems across sites in 10 towns, including Kilmore, Cobram and Mansfield to help the Victorian Government reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The organisation’s managing director Peter Quinn said it had committed to investing $5.39 million to the initiative.

This story from The Shepparton News - “Climate change tackled”.

(Pick up your copy of The News or access it via subscription to read the whole story)

Turning the heat right up

Shepparton reached a new daily heat record for January less than two weeks ago, when temperatures hit a staggering 44.6°C on January 4.

With the Bureau of Meteorology predicting 44°C for today and 46°C tomorrow, it appears this new daily record will be short-lived.

Fun in floaties: Logan Bela, 3, from Mooroopna.

‘‘We are looking at temperatures well into the 40s across much of northern Victoria during this week, with temperatures peaking (today and tomorrow),’’ Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Michael Efron said.

‘‘There is the potential for some January records to be broken with temperatures getting up to around 45 or 46, so certainly extreme conditions.’’

With extreme heat forecast during the day and temperatures set to stay in the mid-20s at night, residents are being urged to take care of their own health and those around them.

Greater Shepparton City Council’s community director Kaye Thomson stressed the importance of recognising the signs of heat stress, particularly in the elderly, children, those without air-conditioners, and pregnant or breastfeeding women.

‘‘I would like to urge the community to look out for their neighbours particularly if they are elderly or unwell, many vulnerable people do not have friends or relatives living nearby so make sure to keep an eye on them over the next few days,’’ Ms Thomson said.

‘‘Children are also at risk of heat stress as they get hotter faster than adults and their bodies are less able to regulate temperature . . . please never leave kids, pets or adults in a parked car during hot weather.’’

Severe fire danger ratings are predicted for parts of Victoria over the next couple of days, but Mr Efron said conditions would be different to classic fire days that bring strong northerly winds.

He said northern Victoria was likely to experience south-westerly winds picking up during the late afternoon and into the evening today, which would likely increase the risk of fire danger.

With conditions set to be extreme, it appears relief from the heat will only be shortlived with a cool change forecast for Saturday before temperatures are set to rise once again into the high 30s next week.

‘‘Later on Friday we will see a change crossing the state which will bring some relief, especially across northern parts of the state with temperatures dropping below 30 across the weekend,’’ Mr Efron said.

‘‘We are set for some exceptionally extreme conditions across northern Victoria.’’ 

• For emergency information during the heat, download the VicEmergency App, or visit emergency.vic.gov.au. 

Story by Liz Mellino from The Shepparton News - “Turning the heat right up.”

Get ready for dry summer

Shepparton has experienced a dry year and it is only set to get drier leading into the summer months.

According to Bureau of Meteorology data, in the 12 months up to October this year, 

.Shepparton had recorded just 308.8 mm of rainfall, almost 134 mm less than its average rainfall across the same 12-month period.

Shepparton's Victoria Park Lake becomes one of the
 city's busiest places when the temperatures begin to rise. 

In the past month, 28.2 mm of rain was recorded in Shepparton.

The district is in line with the rest of the state which is on track to have one of the top 10 driest springs since records began in 1900, according to the bureau’s 2018-19 Summer Outlook.

BoM’s long-range forecasting manager Andrew Watkins said conditions had generally been quite dry throughout the state and it was likely to see a hotter-thannormal summer period.

‘‘It has been particularly warm during October — about the sixth warmest on record,’’ Dr Watkins said.

The summer outlook also showed there was an 80 per cent chance of exceeding normal temperatures in the next three months.

‘‘Summer in Australia typically brings hot temperatures for many communities and the outlook indicates this summer will be no different,’’ he said.

Dr Watkins said it was also looking like El Nin˜ o would come into play with the chance of an El Nin˜ o forming in 2018 sitting at 70 per cent, roughly triple the normal risk.

According to the Bureau, an El Nin˜ o typically brings drier and warmer conditions to eastern Australia but the rainfall effects tend to be less pronounced in the south during summer months.

‘‘As we go into summer we’re looking like El Nin˜ o may well come into play,’’ Dr Watkins said.

This story is from The Shepparton News - “Get ready for dry summer.”

Tribunal hears solar objections from farmers and residents at Shepparton hearing

Farmers and residents opposed to proposed new solar farms in the Goulburn Valley faced a ‘David and Goliath’ battle in a planning tribunal in Shepparton last week.

The objectors have been trawling through hundreds of pages of expert reports and scientific detail, before facing rows of lawyers representing the solar farm companies.

Farmer Bernie McGill told the panel hearing the four solar farm applications, that objectors were overwhelmed by the process, had no lawyers to represent them and had no funding to draw on.

Decision time . . . Northern Victoria will soon have
solar farms but the debate is over exactly where
they should be located.

He said they had also felt let down by Greater Shepparton City Council, which gave them only a brief hearing after they had insisted on being heard.

The objectors, mostly neighbours of the planned developments, have been putting the argument that prime agricultural land in an intensively farmed region should not be used for solar power generation.

The companies, including two multi-nationals, want to spend millions of dollars in building environmentally friendly solar power generators on northern Victorian land.

Most of the objectors say they are not opposed to the developments, but want them operating on less valuable land.

A neighbour of the proposed Lemnos solar farm, Mr McGill raised issues of flooding, drainage, landscaping, land use after decommissioning, soil conservation and the loss of prime agricultural land.

He also said the objectors felt overwhelmed in the face of a room full of lawyers and hundreds of pages of expert reports they had to read.

Farmer Lynette Cobbledick complained about the loss of 480 ha of highly productive agricultural land and the prospect that the solar farms would render the land unsuitable for future agricultural use.

She said the loss of the Lemnos property would create a shortage of suitable horticultural land in the East Shepparton area.

Tallygaroopna farmer Natalie Akers argued solar developments on a $2 billion irrigation backbone risked water infrastructure.

She pointed to an ‘‘abundance’’ of unirrigated land as more preferable areas for solar farms to be developed and speculated people might not invest on land near these developments.

‘‘Let’s work with the solar companies to find them more appropriate locations,’’ she said.

Ms Akers said it did not make sense to install large-scale solar developments within irrigation areas which had been modernised.

She said there had been no discussion about how ad hoc development of solar farms might impact agricultural production, and no assessment on whether this devalued neighbouring properties.

The panel will continue it hearings on May 28. A planning panel hearing was held in Shepparton last week to decide the fates of four solar farm proposals that are proving problematic to determine for Greater Shepparton City Council.

The merits and concerns associated with proposals for solar farm developments in Lemnos, Tatura East, Congupna and Tallygaroopna are being heard by an independent planning panel convened by the Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne in May.

On its first day, the panel heard from representatives for Mr Wynne and Greater Shepparton City Council.

The proceedings follow Mr Wynne’s office calling in the four proposals after the council had requested their outcome be determined by the minister’s office; an outcome the council had welcomed as ‘’sensible’’.

The applications constitute hundreds of millions of dollars in development costs and the projects are estimated to produce hundreds of megawatts of power.

But there are concerns about the best use of prime agricultural land and fears largescale solar farms could have an impact on nearby farming practices.

Following recommendations being handed down by the panel, the minister can approve, reject, or green-light the permits with conditions attached.

Story from Country News - “Heat is turned up”.

Prime agricultural land loss or booming future energy? That's the solar planning conundrum for Victoria

Residents near Shepparton are concerned that farmland the Victorian Government has invested in under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will be lost to agriculture as the state undergoes a solar farm boom.

Victorian farmers are concerned about the lack of
 solar planning laws on prime agricultural land.

Four applications for solar farms in the Greater Shepparton region that could produce up to 243 megawatts of electricity have been proposed for Tatura, Tallygaroopna, Lemnos and Congupna, and have been 'called in' by the Victorian planning minister.

The projects, worth a total of nearly $300 million, are now being investigated by a planning panel with a view that their decision will form the basis for new planning policy in the state.

Critics say there has been no thought put to where the solar farms are being placed and how much prime agricultural land is being lost, and while there is suitable, more arid land available close by.

Read the story by Warwick Long from ABC Rural News - “Prime agricultural land loss or booming future energy? That's the solar planning conundrum for Victoria.”

Banking on solar power

Australian businesses investing in solar power for their own use will see a massive 400 per cent increase this year, according to the regulator. And Shepparton businesses are joining in, with hundreds of businesses having installed substantial systems, ranging from 10 to 500 kilowatts.

Clean Energy Regulator executive general manager Mark Williamson said the growth of businesses investing in solar plants had been underestimated.

Two years ago Mr Williamson predicted commercial and industrial solar sector would be cumulatively putting on a large scale renewable power station every year.

That milestone is set to be reached this year.

‘‘It’s really taking off . . . the capacity in applications for commercial and industrial-sized systems between 100 kW and 1 mW (for 2018) is going to smash last year,’’ Mr Williamson said.

‘‘In Shepparton, you now have five power stations (over 100 kW) with a capacity of 1.94 mW, that’s equivalent to about 400 households.’’

The Greater Shepparton region has a further 431 installations between 10 and 100 kW, with a total capacity of 9.66 mW, with more in the pipeline.

SCS Plastics business operations manager Andrew O’Sullivan said the installation of a 300 kW plant had been a game changer.

‘‘We’re quite a large consumer of power (and) we have noticed a significant reduction in our power bills, particularly over the summer months. We’ve seen a reduction of between $4000 and $6000 a month,’’ Mr O’Sullivan said.

‘‘The solar is basically driving our business for three to four hours a day.’’

When the Wheeler St, Shepparton, business closes its doors on weekends its solar plant continues to work, so 100 per cent of the generated power goes into the electricity grid, bringing in further Mark Williamson financial gains.

Mr O’Sullivan said SCS Plastic’s plant had been built with the help of a low-interest loan, sourced through the Greater Shepparton City Council.

SCS Plastic’s decision to invest in solar was a purely commercial decision.

The price of power and the skyrocketing percentage of total spend led to the investment, Mr O’Sullivan said.

And that investment is being copied across the country as the Clean Energy Regulator is inundated with applications, outpacing the growth in household solar installations.

‘‘Obviously there’s been a lot of focus on electricity prices and I think a lot of businesses as well as households have been looking at that,’’ Mr Williamson said.

‘‘It’s really a combination of electricity prices going up and cost of systems going down.

‘‘While we’re still seeing very steady growth in the household level, the economies of scale for industrial systems are much better.

‘‘We are looking at an exponential growth rate . . . Australia has the biggest penetration of rooftop solar in the world (and) the headline story here is that business is embracing solar in a really big way.’’

Story from The Shepparton News by Myles Peterson - “Banking on solar power.”

Stumping up for solar switch.

A number of significant solar farms for the region may be in the wings.

But on a smaller scale, Greater Shepparton City Council has pulled the trigger on $225 500 to install solar panels on its own facilities to help cut costs amid the climbing price of power.

And Shepparton, once known as the solar city, may one day be the solar-powered city, with hopes for more council assets to progressively turn to renewables.

Councillors this week commended the spend for the lump sum contract for solar installation on council buildings.

Cr Bruce Giovanetti said councillors were aware electricity costs were set to climb in the next year.

‘‘It’s great to see council is taking a proactive approach to ensuring we can reduce energy consumption costs as much as we can,’’ he said.

‘‘Hopefully this is just stage one of a number of stages of solar panels on council buildings.’’

Cr Dinny Adem added he was glad to see the transition ‘‘finally taking place’’ to reduce energy costs and the city’s carbon footprint.

‘‘I’m very pleased to see that moving forward,’’ he said.

Following this week’s council meeting, Mayor Kim O’Keeffe argued ‘‘every dollar counts’’ and that the council needed cut costs where possible.

‘‘In this space it is something we need to do,’’ she said.

‘‘Because costs are going to come up against other things that we may have to compromise with. ‘‘This is a great start.’’ 

In November last year, the council predicted the amount it paid for power might increase by up to 50 or 60 per cent in coming years.

A parliamentary inquiry in Shepparton into the health of regional councils’ finances last year heard from council representatives the impact rising power prices had on finances.

While acknowledging the significant price increases experienced, the council said it was on the front foot in managing energy use.

Council’s environment manager Greg McKenzie at the time said energy reduction measures integrated as part of a council plan were expected to reduce energy consumption by 8.5 per cent through to 2020 from 2014 levels.

Mr McKenzie said council energy usage had been predominantly in decline since 2010 and would continue to be, despite major new infrastructure projects in the wings, including the new Shepparton Art Museum and Cosgrove Three landfill.

But despite the decline in use, costs were climbing.

‘‘We recognise that even though our energy usage is declining, our costs continue to rise,’’ Mr McKenzie said.

‘‘The major issue is the volatility of the market. (This is) why council has an energy reduction plan.’’

Story by Thomas Moir from the Shepparton News - “Stumping up for solar switch.”

Solar projects in spotlight

State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed has welcomed a Victorian Government decision to assess planning applications for four proposed Greater Shepparton region solar farm projects.

State Member for Shepparton,
Suzanna Sheed.

Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne announced last week he would appoint an independent panel to assess the applications at Congupna, Lemnos, Tallygaroopna and Tatura East after Greater Shepparton City Council requested he stepped in.

The issue is an agenda item at tonight’s council meeting.

Ms Sheed said while it was usually preferable for councils to determine planning applications in their own municipality, the complexity of assessing solar projects in agricultural districts called for additional support.

Raising her concerns with Mr Wynne, Ms Sheed said she also urged the government to address the lack of relevant guidelines.

‘‘While the Greater Shepparton area enjoys plentiful sunshine year round, making it an ideal location for solar farms, it is also home to the prime agricultural land at the heart of our economy,’’ she said.

‘‘It is important that we find a balance between renewable energy investment and the sustainable future of our farming industry.

‘‘An independent panel will bring welcome expertise to the decision-making process and enable all parties to be heard in an appropriate forum.’’

Just days before the applications were due to be assessed at tonight’s meeting, the council agenda had revealed that councillors were recommended to vote in favour of the applications, subject to a raft of conditions.

But Mr Wynne ‘‘called in’’ the applications and said the panel would ensure objectors had their say and their concerns were addressed appropriately.

Ms Sheed said she was pleased the panel would also provide broader advice on how future solar farm projects would be assessed in Victoria.

‘‘Renewable energy is a rapidly growing sector and I expect we will see increasing numbers of applications for solar farms across the state,’’ Ms Sheed said.

‘‘If you combine that with the significant proportion of land used for agricultural purposes, there will no doubt be other councils in Victoria facing similar challenges to ours.

‘‘I would hope the findings of this expert panel will support all councils in setting regionspecific planning strategies for solar farms for the benefit of their individual communities.’’

Story by Tara Whitsed from today’s Shepparton News - “Solar projects in spotlight.”