Anti-pulp mill campaigners have welcomed a proposal to build a wind farm on the site of failed timber company Gunns’ contentious project in northern Tasmania.
A company called Tamar Valley Renewables (TVR) says it wants to buy the land on which Gunns had proposed to build the controversial $2.3 billion mill.
TVR says it confirmed its interest in the site with Gunns receivers KordaMentha this week.
Spokesperson for Pulp The Mill, Lucy Landon-Lane, says the idea would have the social licence the pulp mill lacked.
“I just think that it’s something that the community would support wholeheartedly, particularly after the last seven years of campaigning against the pulp mill,” Ms Landon-Lane told AAP.
“I think this kind of proposal is something that will work in all kinds of ways so hopefully the administrators, if they have a heart, will take that into consideration.”
TVR has been formed by Martin May, a former director of Victorian wind farm operation Hepburn Wind.
Mr May says he has a pool of investors interested in constructing a large wind farm of possibly 100 turbines that could be operational in three years.
He says the project would create hundreds of jobs during the construction phase and up to 30 permanent positions after that.
Mr May says the site is well positioned with on-site access to the electricity grid, proximity to the Basslink cable to the mainland and favourable wind conditions.
“There’s a lot of things that are very attractive from our perspective which (already) exist,” he said.
“I’m pretty confident at this stage.”
Gunns’ inability to attract an investment partner to build the pulp mill, at Bell Bay north of Launceston, is considered one of the major reasons for the company’s collapse last month.
The permit to build the mill could still be sold to a developer but it is also the subject of a Supreme Court challenge from the Tasmanian Conservation Trust.
“The permit is in many senses moot … so that uncertainty currently diminishes its value to somebody who’s looking to be a buyer and a developer of a pulp mill,” Mr May said.
Receivers KordaMentha said it was too early to tell whether the bid might be successful.
“The receiver is still completing its strategic review of that planned pulp mill asset,” a spokesperson said.
“The receiver always welcomes hearing from anyone who’s interested in any of the Gunns assets but it’s far too early for the receiver to decide what strategy to implement on that asset.”
Local mayor Roger Broomhall said any development application for the site would be assessed on its merits.
“I think probably many in the community would welcome anything on that particular site at the moment,” he said.
