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 186 new-generation, enormous towers, producing enough electricity to power more than half a million homes.
43 of these towers will surround Tomahawk. We have never been consulted about the placement of these towers. Tomahawk are asking the company that they move just some of these towers away from our town. So far they have refused. We believe this is unreasonable, and by national standards, far from best practice.
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 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 the 12 towers in front of Mt Cameron 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, saying that "moving the 12 towers would make the Waterhouse envelope unviable."
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.
BEST PRACTICE?
ALSO LEFT OFF THE MAP: THE MOUNT CAMERON RANGE
ACEN say that the visual impact of their project will be assessed against the Draft National Guidelines for Windfarm Development approach to landscape impact (ACEN Proposal, page 25). The Guidelines outline best practice for wind farm development, and state that the visual impact on the landscape needs to be considered (Guidelines, page 69).
From almost every viewpoint around Tomahawk, Mount Cameron dominates the landscape and the town's amenity. (Think the Hazards at Coles Bay). However, as you can see, ACEN have left Mount Cameron off their most recent map (above) and propose 12 towers, each almost the height of Sydney Tower to be built close to Tomahawk, directly in front of the mountain range.
As you can see, we have added Mount Cameron to their map, with compass bearings and lines of sight south- east through the 12 turbines (blue dots) that ACEN propose to build, destroying any clear view of the range. The seven towers you can see directly south of the town will be also be visible from many viewpoints inside the town boundary.
The Tomahawk Protection Society are asking ACEN to move at least the 19 towers identified above, away from the town.
For wind farm development best practice, the Guidelines also define what community consultation actually is (which is not simply telling people what you are going to do, without giving them any opportunity for input) and that community consultation, including community landscape considerations and perceptions, should begin at the site selection stage, well before any planning starts.
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 much further into the distance.
Everyone knows how a camera will make a mountain look small. Using simple trigonometry and comparing the angles of elevation, what is certain is that the closest turbines will be just over 3 times the height of the mountain. The dotted line indicates more closely what Mt Cameron actually looks like to the naked eye.
Here we show the ACEN photomontage (taken from the Tomahawk boat ramp) as it was presented to us. Intentional or not, the significant landscape of Mount Cameron becomes insignificant, something the panorama view exacerbates. In real life, Mt Cameron dominates the Tomahawk township from almost every viewpoint.
You can see the whole photomontage on ACEN's website here
