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DEMONS TO CELEBRATE: Laharum Football Netball Club will celebrate 20 and 10-year premierships with a reunion next week. Players, partners and other guests involved in Horsham District League 1995 senior, 2005 reserves, under-17 and under-14 football and 1995 C Grade netball premierships will gather at Cameron Reserve at Laharum on July 11. The reunion will coincide with Laharum’s Saturday match-of-the-round clash against Kalkee. History shows that a Shane Meade-led Laharum team took on and beat Natimuk for the 1995 flag. The team featured the likes of Robbie Maynard in attack, a teenage Damien Bunworth and Sonny Natoli who kept a hamstring injury he had suffered before the game a secret. Mr Natoli, travelling from Queensland, will be among guests going home for the event. The picture shows from left, 1995 senior premiership player Brett ‘Wiz’ Janetzki, 2005 joint reserves premiership coach Keith Thistlethwaite and 1995 C Grade premiership netballer Andrea Thistlethwaite. Reunion celebrations will include a dinner at Cameron Reserve. Picture: KELLY LAIRD
Wind farm renewed
C
onfirmation that Ararat will be home to a new $450-million wind farm could provide the catalyst for development of an even larger renewable energy plant at Murra Warra, between Horsham and Warracknabeal.
International renewable energy developer Renewable Energy Systems and its service partners have struck a deal to build a 75-turbine Ararat Wind Farm – the third-largest power plant of its type in Australia. Construction is scheduled to start this month. The contract is the first for a major wind farm since the restoration of bipartisan political support for a national Re-
newable Energy Target subsidy scheme. It has also immediately generated speculation about the Murra Warra proposal. RES Australia has plans for a $600-million 32-square-kilometre Murra Warra wind farm, which would involve more than 100 turbines across 22 properties. But for the moment it has its attention firmly on its breakthrough 240-megawatt Ararat project. RES, General Electric and Downer confirmed that the Ararat project would go ahead with financial backing from shareholders, Partners Group, RES, OPTrust and GE. The farm, directly employing a workforce of about 165 during construction stage, and another 120 indirectly, is de-
signed to have a life span of 25 years with the potential to generate enough electricity to power 123,000 homes, or six percent of Victorian households every year. About 40 percent of the energy is destined for the ACT.
Economy boost
Analysts expect the farm to inject millions into the Ararat district economy in the next two years and to finance community projects through a community fund. RES Australia chief operating officer Matt Rebbeck said the project represented a major development for Ararat district. “After many years of work from a dedicated team, RES is proud to deliver the Ararat
Wind Farm. It is a world-class project and one of the largest in Australia. The project will provide significant benefits to the local community through the creation of jobs and funding initiatives to support good causes in the region,” he said. Ararat Mayor Paul Hooper said the wind farm would also provide 13 full-time jobs after construction and 42 farms gaining income from renting land to the windmills would ‘go someway’ to towards being drought-proof. “The wind farm also becomes our largest ratepayer by quite a significant factor. So there are huge benefits to everyone in our municipality,” he said. Murra Warra project manager Kevin Garthwaite said he
couldn’t pre-judge any RES Australia board decisions but conceded that there was a ‘much more’ positive environment for wind farms now that there was bipartisan support for the RET subsidy scheme. “We’re certainly in a stronger position to move forward than we were a few months ago,” he said. “We have to wait for a strategic planning meeting to see if progress could proceed in similar fashion to the Ararat project. We have to see how investors react. We will be looking at all the projects in our portfolio.” A General Electric-Downer consortium will provide full engineering, procurement and construction for the Ararat pro-
IN THIS ISSUE • Scrap metal fire • Hits and misses for mobile blackspots • Booze bus to re-visit Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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ject. Downer is principal contractor with General Electric supplying and commissioning the 75 wind turbine generators. TOA2, part of Transmission General Holdings Australia, will construct transmission lines and the terminal station required to connect the wind farm to the power grid. RES Australia will outline construction details in the coming weeks through various outlets and the website www. ararat-windfarm.com. Discussions will involve a Community Liaison Group made up of community and Ararat Rural City, Pyrenees and Northern Grampians shire councils. The group will have its first meeting on July 8 in Ararat.