SAY GOODBYE TO TOMAHAWK?
If they get their way, the Tomahawk we love is about to be destroyed by a foreign multinational.
SAY GOODBYE TO TOMAHAWK?
If they get their way, the Tomahawk we love is about to be destroyed by a foreign multinational.
CONSULTATION? HEY, TOMAHAWK wasn'T EVEN ON THEIR MAP!
In Tasmania's North East, ACEN Australia, a "platform" that is 100% owned by the foreign company Ayala Group (See ACEN's Major Project proposal, p. 4) is proposing two massive new wind farms with 133 new-generation, enormous towers, producing enough electricity to power more than half a million homes.
42 of these towers will surround Tomahawk. We were never consulted about the placement of these towers.
On the original website of UPC/AC Renewables (owned by ACEN) Tomahawk was left off the map. ACEN has doubled down on the omission. The two screen grabs above, both taken from maps in ACEN's 2022 Major Project proposal (the first is on page 4 and the second is a copy of UPC's original map in Appendix B) also omit Tomahawk. The arrows show where Tomahawk should appear.
This is not just about being left off the map. Incredibly, ACEN doubles down even further in their Major Project Proposal where they are required to identify stakeholders and who they will be consulting with (see the proposal p.59): the Tomahawk community gets absolutely no mention.
More recently, ACEN has been holding community 'information days' around the north east. But five years into their planning process, simply rocking up to tell the most severely impacted little community what you are going to do, and giving them no opportunity to have any meaningful input or make changes, is not consultation.
EASY TO MISS?
OR JUST INCONVENIENT?
For those who have never visited Tomahawk this is a satellite image. Admittedly no metropolis, but hardly inconsequential.
However, as you can see from the maps below, Tomahawk will be the most severely impacted township in the entire north-east. Also in their proposal (page 25), ACEN refer to the Federal Government's Draft Guidelines for Windfarm Development where, while they do not go into detail, the Guidelines outline what constitutes best practice. The Guidelines state, for example, that community consultation - with opportunities for input - should begin at the site selection stage (see page 27). The site selection stage was well over five years ago. Since then it has been public knowledge that some landowners and organisations in the north-east have had one-on-one negotiations with the company. From our perspective, some serious questions arise. Are these omissions simple mistakes, or are they deliberate? Either way, they suggest a lack of due diligence, and certainly not best practice.
5 YEARS INTO THEir PLANNING THEY FINALLY show US THIS MAP:
According to ACEN's website, planning for this development began in 2019. As their Major Project Proposal shows in great detail, by 2022 planning was well under way. However, it was not until October 2024, five years later that ACEN held their first 'community information day' in Tomahawk. A month later, at the Tomahawk recreation ground on November 17, also for the first time they showed the community the map above. As you can see, it clearly shows the town surrounded by towers (the blue dots with white surrounds), with some as close as 3km. Although the words "INDICATIVE TURBINE LAYOUT" appear across each 'envelope', when we asked ACEN staff at the November 2024 information day if any of the towers could be moved, we were bluntly told "That is not going to happen".
ACEN has since confirmed that refusal in writing to the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner.
FYI, the 'Waterhouse' monicker indicated is a misnomer. It should be called the 'Tomahawk wind farm envelope'. Most of the turbines indicated in the 'Waterhouse' envelope on this map are actually within the Tomahawk postcode area, not the Waterhouse area. This is easily googled. But again, is this deliberate or is it just sloppy work?
BEFORE YOU SAY 'NIMBY'
THESE TOWERS ARE AT A SCALE PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN IN TASMANIA.
Before you say NIMBY (not in my backyard) the proposed towers are 270 metres high, almost as tall as Sydney Tower, which as everyone knows, dominates the Sydney skyline. Dwarfing the towers at Mussleroe, these structures are at a colossal scale unseen in this state, and apart from any visual, noise, flickering, wildlife or environmental considerations, will dominate the landscape wherever they are installed.
View NORTH EAST across Ringarooma Bay to Rushy Lagoon (extracted from the photomontage on ACEN's website) Physically, these towers will be twice as high as the towers that most days can be clearly seen 20km away at Musselroe. ACEN's proposed towers will be only 15km away, meaning that visually, they will be at least 2-3 times taller than the Musselroe towers.
Looking directly SOUTH 1000m out from Tomahawk beach. Nearest turbines will be 3km away from the township.
Looking EAST 1000m out from Tomahawk beach. Nearest turbines will be 3km away from the township.
On their latest map (March 2025) ACEN have drawn a new 'exclusion zone' that by our calculation would only affect the three turbines on the left of this picture. Whether they would be removed or simply moved and if moved, where to, the company has not told us.
Meanwhile they are telling the broader community 'they have listened'. Hmmm.
Looking directly WEST 1000m out from Tomahawk beach. Nearest turbines will be 3km away from the township, in the direction of the setting sun and the prevailing wind.
How to make a significant landscape insignificant. A detail closeup taken from ACEN'S photomontage presented to us at Tomahawk as a fait accompli March 2025. While indicative of the visual height of the proposed turbines, the camera has pushed Mount Cameron - the significant landscape much further into the distance.
Everyone knows how a camera will make a mountain look small. The human eye sees things very differently to a camera. The dotted line indicates more closely what the significant landscape of the Mountain actually looks like to the naked eye. However, by calculating the angles of elevation to the summit of Mt Cameron and the tips of the turbine blades, what is certain is that the closest turbines will be just over 3 times the height of the mountain.
Significant landscape? What significant landscape? Here we show the full ACEN photomontage (taken from the Tomahawk boat ramp) as it was presented to us (and on their website). Mount Cameron is made to disappear. This is the visual representation they presumably will provide to the Planning Commission. Nothing to see here officer!
You can view the Company photomontages here
