![The Avisford Mini Sustainable Energy Park is proposed for 16ha [shaded] between the Castlereagh Highway and Old Mill Road, outside Gulgong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/rtAhkjtYJ67Yc9vqpzBr6k/a503dd88-274a-4487-8f92-60487ccdd001.JPG/r0_0_1206_775_w576_h298_fmax.webp "The Avisford Mini Sustainable Energy Park is proposed for 16ha [shaded] between the Castlereagh Highway and Old Mill Road, outside Gulgong.")
Residents who'll be living near the proposed 16,000 solar panel Avisford Mini Sustainable Energy Park, have voiced their concerns over the location chosen for the project.
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The site is a 16ha wedge of agricultural land located between the Castlereagh Highway and Old Mill Road, west of the township of Gulgong. Dennis and Margaret Armstrong were among those whose submissions opposed the project, which they said visually is at odds with "this amazing historical town".
"My husband joined me at the clay festival here last year and just fell in love with the region we bought our land here in Black Lead Lane before the week had ended," Mrs Armstrong said in her submission. "We are however starting to feel very apprehensive about the proposed solar farm that would be potentially just a short distance from our little piece of paradise. We had accepted the solar farm at Beryl. But given the high level of renewable energy already existing in the Central West regions and the size of the Beryl solar farm, we figured we'd done our bit, and the rest of NSW could do their bit now.
"Our properties dropping drastically in value is one thing (we've personally experienced this before), the potential for reduced tourism is also very real, I know that we personally avoided visiting towns in Europe that had extensive renewable energy. But to put the town of Gulgong at risk is just wrong."
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And Mr Armstrong cited a 2018 parliamentary speech by Victorian MP Tim McCurdy, which called for approving authorities "to make sure that solar farms are in fact in the best possible places. We have got to think wisely as to where we put these solar farms and again about the greater impact on the local community."
Old Mill Road resident, Marie Ralston, asked for consideration of her home's namesake.
"My property 'The Lagoon' derived its name as it is a low-lying and its pastures become inundated with water forming a unique ecosystem on my property," she said in her submission. "Stormwater run-off from this proposed development, along with the risk of inadequacies to stormwater mitigation controls for this proposed development, will have significant adverse impacts to my property and surrounding properties, and threaten this inland semi-permanent wetland."
An ITP Renewables spokesperson, also the proponents of the Burrundulla proposal, said, "developers are drawn to sites where high-quality solar resources are available and that are in proximity to the electricity distribution grid to enable connection. Town-scale developments tend to be sited on the fringe of towns as they require connection to low-voltage distribution network infrastructure."
