AN URGENT community meeting was due to meet at Rosewood RSL Memorial Hall last night over concerns about proposals for a solar power station at Lower Mount Walker.
Anxious residents said the solar facility would be visible from the top end of Rosewood, Ashwell, Tallegalla, The Bluff, Calvert, Lower Mount Walker, Mount Walker West, Mount Walker and Mount Forbes.
Lower Mount Walker resident Grant Kahler moved to the area five years ago and lives opposite Ross and Steve Blanch’s 540 square hectare dairy farm at 108 Blanchs Road where the development was proposed.
“We built our dream home and have a wonderful rural lifestyle,” Mr Kahler said.
“But there is now a serious proposal to build a solar farm at our front gate.
“I am on a journey to understand how solar farms impact the communities in which they are built.
“We called the meeting to allow concerned residents to hear what it would entail.
“It is not something we’ve dealt with as a region, or as a local community, so we thought it would be smart to have awareness of what we face.”
Division 1 and Division 4 council candidates, State Member for Scenic Rim Jon Krause and a guest speaker who lives alongside a solar farm at Kilkivan were among those invited to attend.
The recently begun Say No to the Lower Mount Walker Solar Farm Facebook site now has around 100 members while a Change.org petition has picked up almost 200 signatures.
The petition stated: “The [dairy farm] soil is of the highest quality in our district, it is used as topsoil in the GABBA.
“Half the property floods and is considered a flood plain … it’s one of the last remaining dairy farms in our region.
“We urge them to consider alternative locations for this solar farm that do not involve sacrificing prime agricultural land.
“We believe there must be a balance between progress towards renewable energy sources and preserving valuable farming lands that contribute so much to our community.”
Libra Energy Director Rod Stephenson admitted his plans – which in Stage 1 would entail installing 217,000 rotating solar panels – had residents fearing the worst.
He said residents thought the panels would look ugly and could threaten wildlife habitat.
Mr Stephenson said Ipswich City Council Deputy Mayor Russell Milligan raised “no red flags” at a meeting last year.
If approved, construction would start by the end of this year and connection and supply to the grid would begin during 2026.
