It’s a dilemma.
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What do you do with a 59.5 metre long piece of beautiful engineering also known as a turbine blade.
The White Rock Wind Farm gave the council a damaged one and the council is keen to use it to create what it calls a “wow factor”.
The snag is that because of the unspecified damage to the blade, White Rock Wind Farm says it can’t be erected standing upright. It would have to be horizontal (which would diminish the wow).
But it’s still a marvellous piece of engineering.
Another constraint is that moving it demands very big, special trucks but there is one in the region at the moment because the Sapphire Wind Farm is still under construction but once that ends the truck moves on and the cost of bringing another one in would be sky high – higher even than a wind turbine.
The recommendation to the council is that the blade be placed on supports horizontally “on the eastern side of Rocky Ponds Creek within Veness Park …. within a very short walk to the CBD precinct.”
The other option is to put it beside the New England Highway in Kilkenny Place but the council business paper says: “The site at Kilkenny Place creates a risk that the travelling public will be distracted while driving.
“It also is not a safe place for children to be exploring the site, between two unfenced roads. The Veness Park option provides for a much safer environment, with room for visitors to park safely and walk around in a traffic free environment.”
The cost is estimated at $30,000 though there may be a way of spreading that spending over a few years.
Decision Day is Thursday.