Considered Renewables Portland

07/03/2024

Incredible effort by everyone who took the time to have the community voice heard during the consultation process!

Thank YOU for protecting our beautiful Portland coastline.

Together, we've proven that united community voices can bring about meaningful results.

"The zone was reduced after community consultation, which generated 3,285 submissions from the local community, industry, First Nations groups, and local councils" -

The government says the 1,000-square-kilometre zone could generate enough energy to power up to two million homes.

02/02/2024

There's a Vic Gov Renewable Energy Planning Survey out at the moment, closing on the 16th Feb.
The answers will help them determine where Renewable Energy should be developed in Victoria.
It says it takes about 20 minutes to complete, and asks questions about local values and what kind of renewable energy options you would prefer.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our survey....

17/01/2024

Recent updates to Victorian Offshore Wind:

- the Southern Ocean zone is still to be declared following consultation ending in August 2023

- Environmental concerns and destruction/modification of Ramsar Wetlands has impacted the proposal to build the Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal at Port of Hastings.
The article below discusses this development further.

Environment minister says ‘large areas of [wetland] will be destroyed or substantially modified’ by the proposal for windfarm development

04/09/2023

THROWN TO THE WIND

The film documents the impacts of offshore wind industry in the US.

"There appear to be at least two distinct mechanisms by which wind industry activities are killing whales. The first is through boat traffic in areas where there hasn’t historically been traffic. And the second is through high-decibel sonar mapping that can disorient whales, separate mothers from their calves, and send them into harm’s way, either into boat traffic or poorer feeding ground"

https://www.bitchute.com/video/QoJYYbF2fU6y/?fbclid=IwAR3ju4VbyCA0QuWBa85HsgzVeb2wf-VlW7XzVsY0fA09FnFfglzKFHDoZsA

Director and Producer: Jonah MarkowitzEditor: Jorge Garcia-Spitz Executive Producers: Leighton Woodhouse and Michael Shellenberger

30/08/2023

https://reneweconomy.com.au/its-not-going-to-be-cheap-australia-warned-on-first-offshore-wind-costs-and-supply-chains/

Offshore wind industry warns Australia that its first gigawatt scale projects will not be cheap, but costs will fall if the country aims for scale and is realistic about local content.

30/08/2023

The Wandering Albatross is listed as critically endangered under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Act.

Seabirds are among the world's most threatened bird species, with Albatrosses and Petrels facing ongoing conservation crisis.

Albatrosses were identified as the highest at risk species in the southern Australia offshore region.

Many petrel and threatened Albatross species breed and forage in Australian jurisdictions and distribute widely across the world's oceans and remote islands.

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/recovery-plans/comment/draft-recovery-plan-albatrosses-petrels-2021

The government consultation on the proposed Southern Ocean offshore windfarm zone ends tommorrow. Please have your say via this link:

https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/oei-southern-ocean

28/08/2023

The Victorian offshore wind directions paper was released in March 2022, outlining plans for offshore wind in the state.

Job estimates in the VIC Offhsore Wind Directions Paper is for all of Victoria not just the southern ocean zone.

The Port of Hastings has been confirmed as the most suitable port for supporting Victoria's first offshore wind developments, subject to required approvals.
This will be known as the Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal.

We are still trying to find where the Commonwealth Governments 6000 "jobs, jobs, jobs" for the southern ocean zone come from?

https://engage.vic.gov.au/victorias-offshore-wind-policy-directions-paper-developing-the-offshore-wind-sector

https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/offshore-wind-energy

https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/media-releases/offshore-wind-industry-power-regional-jobs-across-southern-ocean-region

28/08/2023

**TOMMORROW**

There will be two volunteers attending the Neighbourhood House tommorrow on the 29/8/23, to assist any community members in accessing or filling out the online government survey.

This is the last few days to have your say before consultation closes on the 31/8/23.

https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/oei-southern-ocean

27/08/2023

The VIC GRID consultation survey closes tonight.
There is also an interactive map for community members to identify and share local knowledge and values for the Portland region.