CONSTRUCTION at the Hawkesdale wind farm is due to start in 2021 after it first received a planning permit 12 years ago, developer Global Power Generation says.
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A GPG spokesman said a Power Purchasing Agreement had been struck for the wind farm with a private company.
The spokesman would not yet reveal the company's name or how much power had been bought.
The state government first granted the site a planning permit in 2008 and amended it in 2017 to reduce the number of turbines to 26 but increase their height to 180 metres.
The government has extended the planning permit for the wind farm, with the project now required to be completed by August 2023.
But the Hawkesdale and District Development Action Committee fears the development will restrain the town's future growth unless set back at least five kilometres from the town boundary, with plans showing the nearest turbine 1.6 kilometres away.
Committee secretary Frank Huglin said the turbines were "just too close to the edge of town".
"The state government says they want them one kilometre away, whereas the wind farm commissioner says it should be five kilometres. Which is what the Moyne Shire policy is," Mr Huglin said.
"But unfortunately the Hawkesdale wind farm's planning permit was approved before the shire got on board with the National Wind Farm Commissioner's recommendation.
"It got permitted before anyone had any idea or understanding of what wind farms were or the implications of them. It wasn't until wind farms got built like Macarthur that people got an understanding."
Committee member John Bos said the group would meet with the council on Thursday to discuss a demand that the town boundary be extended after the Kennett government of the 1990s reduced it by 80 per cent.
Mr Bos said there were opportunities for the town to develop to the south in the direction of the planned wind farm.
"This is to make Hawkesdale survive," he said.
The committee has also invited Hawkesdale community members to meet with a solicitor on Saturday to discuss what action could be taken to force the wind farm further back from the town.
Jackson Graham
Jackson is a reporter for The Standard.
Jackson is a reporter for The Standard.
