Golden Plains Wind Farm Project Update #19

Issue #19

April 2023

PROJECT UPDATE

Andrew Riggs - TagEnergy, Minister Lily D'Ambrosio - Victorian MP, turning soil at our opening event.

Welcome to the April 2023 Issue of the Golden Plains Wind Farm Community Update.

We have turned the first piece of earth on a project that will help turn the tide on climate change for the earth - Australia’s largest permitted wind farm site.

Milestones like this celebrate all those who have helped turn ambition into reality as we accelerate the shift to renewable energy.

Construction is now officially underway on the $2 billion, 756MW Golden Plains Wind Farm East project which is the first stage of the 1,300MW Golden Plains Wind Farm near Rokewood (near Geelong) in Victoria.

The local community has long supported our project and we’re continuing to support them.

Our team donned hard hats and shovels to turn the first sod alongside Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio, the CEO of Clean Energy Finance Corporation (one of our lenders), Ian Learmonth, as well as key project partners, local government, host landholders and key community representatives. Over 100 stakeholders attended to celebrate the landmark event and enjoy the BBQ and refreshments provided.

We announced a raft of new projects to improve safety and convenience in the local area, from crossings near schools and upgrades to main street and park infrastructure, to repairing roads damaged in last year’s floods.

About 100 people (soon to be 350) are on site building a solid foundation for the future of our project - and our planet.

When completed, Golden Plains will generate enough sustainable energy to power more than 750,000 homes - the equivalent of every home in regional Victoria.

1

Turning Soil with key stakeholders on site for our official project start including (from left to right) Malcolm Kennedy – AusNet, Ian Learmonth - Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Cr Brett Cunningham – Golden Plains Shire Council, Andrew Riggs – TagEnergy, Minister Lily D’Ambrosio – Victorian MP, Franck Woitiez – TagEnergy, Danny Nielsen Vestas and Simon Clifton – TagEnergy.

Memorably we also heard from an original Rokewood local, TagEnergy’s Simon Clifton, who shared valuable insights regarding TagEnergy’s vision on broader community safety. TagEnergy announced additional community projects with a combined value of more than $300,000, jointly funded by the project and its contractors Vestas, CPP, MPK and AusNet Services, to improve community safety and convenience. These projects include: New pedestrian refuge crossings in the main street of Rokewood and Teesdale.

Upgrades to Two Bridges Road to improve safety and community access after being damaged during flooding events last year.

Rokewood’s main street upgrades including a complete renovation of the public restroom facilities (as seen in the image below), new solar-powered

Image of newly renovated public restroom facilities in the Rokewood main street

rubbish and recycling bins, a new water fountain featuring

indigenous

artwork,

new

trees

and

refurbishment of existing park benches.

Andrew Riggs was also interviewed by Skynews regarding the start of construction for Stage 1 of Victoria’s largest wind farm.

Watch it here!

2

COMMUNITY BENEFITS SCHEME

Over the last month our team has been busily phoning potentially eligible residents regarding the Community Energy Program and Off-Site Landscaping Program. It has been great to see so many people returning their expression of interest for these initiatives. If you need to return your expression of interest, or you would like to know more regarding the community benefit schemes, please reach out to our team on 03 5421 9999 or email us at info@goldenplainswindfarm.com.au.

Eligible households will have already received notification on our Community Energy Program. Further information on how to participate in the program and to receive a $1,600 annual electricity bill offset will shortly be mailed out to those living within 3km of a future Golden Plains Wind Farm turbine. If you live within 3km of a Golden Plains Wind Farm turbine and would like more information in the meantime, please email us at info@goldenplainswindfarm.com.au or visit www.goldenplainswindfarm.com.au/community.

Our

Off-Site

Landscaping

Program is available to eligible residents within 5km of a future Golden Plains Wind Farm turbine across both Stage 1 and Stage 2, which

will

provide

no

cost

landscaping to reduce the visual impact of the turbines.

After expressions of interest are received, a landscape and visual assessment will be undertaken at each

property,

eligibility

and

to

determine

provide

initial

landscaping plans if eligibility is confirmed. For further information and to register your interest, please

Information on this program has been mailed out and we encourage early participation in this program by returning the expression of interest form to us at: Golden Plains Wind Farm Level 2, Tenancy 2 15-17 Goode Street, Gisborne VIC 3437

visit

www.goldenplainswindfarm.com.a u/offsitelandscaping/

We will continue to update the community on the progress of the implementation of the schemes and will be in direct contact with all registered and eligible participants very soon.

3

The newly finished upgraded sign for the Rokewood RSL funded through our Community Grants Program.

COMMUNITY GRANTS

OUR COMMUNITY GRANTS PROGRAM IS OPEN!

We are excited to announce further early funding of $20,000 for our Community Grants Program. This earlier than anticipated allocation of funding has been released to continue our commitment to the community.

Applications for this program close May 31, 2023.

The successful applicants during the last round of funding that received a combined total of $20,000 were: • • • •

Rokewood Community Health Centre – Health Hub facility upgrade Rokewood RSL – Replacement signage (seen in the photo above) Rokewood Primary School – New flagpole and flags Wild at Heart Ecotherapy – Healing on Country program for domestic violence survivors

For further information about the application guidelines, please visit our website. If you would like to apply for the Community Grants Program, please complete the application form located on the Golden Plains Wind Farm website.

The Golden Plains Wind Farm Community Grants Program has been established to provide financial sponsorship support for a range of community-based initiatives, projects and events that benefit local communities. The Program is open to a range of community purposes and needs including health and social welfare, safety, environmental, educational, youth projects, sport and recreation, culture, the arts, and economic development.

4

Image of the Easter egg hunt gathering at the Rokewood Easter Event.

COMMUNITY EVENTS The Rokewood Community Easter Event held on Sunday 2nd April was a fantastic success! The weather was spectacular, and the sunshine brought along approximately 300 community members. It was great to see so many community members enjoying the multiple activities on offer at the event including, fairy floss, popcorn, face painting, jumping castle, craft table, coffee van and the BBQ. It was great to see how excited the children where when the Easter Bunny showed up with chocolate surprises!

We'd like to extend a thank you to the people who assisted during the event: Peter and Anne Clifton Carolyn and Dave Rankin Jo Sibbison The entire CFA team

We appreciate your support to help make community events ran by the project a success for all involved.

The project is grateful to have the opportunity to run these events for the Rokewood and surrounding communities and we look forward to seeing great attendance at our future events.

Have your say! We would love to hear your feedback on the Community Easter Event so we can deliver fantastic future events in your community. Please complete the

It was great to connect with members of the community to share more information on the project’s Community Benefit Schemes. We are thrilled to provide these benefits across the community and enjoy opportunities to provide information for eligible members.

short survey by scanning the QR code below.

5

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE Significant progress been achieved over the last month by Vestas as the access track construction and foundation excavation works within stage 1 continue. Excitingly, our contractors are now gearing up to start this month on the foundational steel and concrete placing. Coinciding with this, the onsite concrete batch plant has already mobilised to site.

In other news, works have commenced on the AusNet 220kV line and the substations that will connect both stages of the wind farm to the grid.

Our construction team at work on a turbine excavation which is underway across 19 locations.

Did you know?...

Check out the interesting figures highlighting the scale of our project; 150,000 tonnes of rock have been utilised to date.

A significant 1,120 M3 of concrete has currently been used on site.

10 sets of anchor cages have been assembled to date (see image below).

25km of Access Tracks have now been completed.

Turbine excavation has also commenced (19 underway at various levels of completion) seen in the image above.

Image of cable drum delivery on site.

Construction Progress Civil crews have made great progress with the following activities; Concrete batching plant is nearly ready for commissioning.

The first batch of Anchor Cages have now arrived to site!

Cable drum deliveries to the site have commenced (see image below).

Substation bench and additional laydown area works are continuing.

Permanent fencing installation is underway in various locations.

Image of the anchor cages assembled on site.

Intersection upgrades continue around the site, with works still underway on the following two intersections: Cressy-Shelford Road & Wingeel Road - Earthworks continuing.

Cressy-Shelford Road & Bells Road - Asphalting now complete.