The Eudunda Community, Business and Tourism Committee (ECBAT) were delighted with the results of their recent business breakfast, held in the Eudunda RSL rooms.
Photo: Hannah Willson (Neoen Energy), Judy Partington (Chair Eudunda Community Business & Tourism – ECBAT), Kelly-Anne Saffin (Yorke & Mid North Regional Development Board), Melvin (Mel) Zerner (Rep for ECBAT & Regional Council of Goyder).
Judy Partington, ECBAT Chairperson introduced our surprise guest speaker as Hannah Willson of Neoen Energy, explaining how she kindly agreed to speak to us at the very last second to replace our original guest speaker who fell ill.
Hannah, who is based in Burra, presented the latest developments in the area of large scale Alternative Energy coming to the area with Neoen Energy. Neoen Energy have existing successful projects in South Australia, with possibly the most well known and publicized being the Hornsdale Power Reserve or ‘South Australian Big Battery’ located 15km North of Jamestown SA.
For our area the project is called the Goyder Renewables Zone and has been divided into two areas. The first stage, Goyder South Hybrid has just gained Development Application Approval.
On Wednesday the 3rd of March, the Goyder South Hybrid Energy Facility development application (DA) received approval from the South Australian Government. This approval comes without any major changes or difficult conditions, and at up to 1,800MW of wind and solar generation and up to 900MW of battery storage, this makes Goyder South the largest renewable project ever to receive planning approval in Australia.
Read more about this announcement here…
Hannah’s talk was very informative, and for some of the businesses present at the meeting may have introduced them to new opportunities in the future, and certainly we are all much more aware of what is currently happening and proposed to happen. A very exciting time!
Kelly-Anne Saffin CEO of the Yorke & Mid North Regional Development Board (YMNRDA) spoke further on developments and RDA support for the region. Recently Kelly-Anne has been helping ECBAT in the highly competitive area of grant submissions in the hope that we can fund two cabins for the Eudunda Caravan Park. This initiative becomes much more important and in focus, when we hear about what ex Eudunda resident Mel Zerner has been up to.
Melvin (Mel) Zerner spoke of his voluntary work with local communities in the Goyder Region, the Regional Council of Goyder and the many Contractors and Sub Contractors who come to do the work putting the equipment in place, by offering the management and workers local, reliable and easy to source accommodation, food, labour and other services they might need. Mel’s aim has been to try support our local businesses as much as possible. This has spread into many opportunities, even for farmers, who have been able to rent out spare accommodation. The model Mel has built up has been recognised by other regions, who alongside ours are involved in the Electranet Project Energy Connect – ‘Interconnector’.
Very briefly the Inerconnector is:
‘A new, 900km high-voltage transmission interconnector between Robertstown, in South Australia’s mid-north, and Wagga Wagga, in New South Wales, via Buronga with an additional line between Buronga and Red Cliffs, in Victoria.’
Reference found on the ElectraNet website
Overall, it could be said that opportunities abound for our region for quite a few years to come, if we adapt quickly and are flexible and willing to engage. It is an exciting time!
The gathering was also excited to have one of the town’s newer business people Sai from the Eudunda Roadhouse drop in late, once he was able to get away from work (he starts early). Welcome Sai. We recognise that not everyone can make our ECBAT events, so it was great you dropped to see what it was all about. A previous Southern Goyder News item welcomed Sai to Eudunda
Of course part of the excitement was that businesses joining ECBAT that morning went into a prize draw for $200 worth of goodies, and this was won by Mike Roberts of “The Barn at Wombat Flat“.
While we have the opportunity we would like to congratulate Kelly-Anne Saffin on being named joint winner of the Local Government Association of South Australia’s Jim Hullick Award presented earlier this year. The award celebrates strong partnerships between federal, state, and local government and recognises leaders in their communities.
Kelly-Anne was acknowledged for her work as the driving force behind the delivery of the ‘Remarkable Southern Flinders’ adventure tourism project.
you can read about this award and see photo on the YMNRDA website
You can do more research here
Renewables Projects Update – June 2021 (by Mel Zerner)
Neoen Energy
Goyder Energy
ECBAT website