Alpine Shire Council will lobby against an unpopular proposed battery energy storage system at Dederang. The anti-renewables position is in contrast to residents in a neighbouring town who want to go 100 per cent green. Renewable energy development and policy in Australia is shaping up as a federal election issue.
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00:00It's a hot, crowded night in Mount Beauty and tensions are boiling over at an Alpine
00:07Shire Council meeting.
00:15The Council has voted to lobby against a proposed battery energy storage system at Denerang,
00:21a project that's angered hundreds.
00:23I reckon coal and wood is still a cleaner option.
00:28If they want these batteries, why don't they put them in Federation Square or in Abenoosie's
00:34backyard?
00:35Exactly.
00:36The decision's a small win for Sharon McAvoy, whose home is next to the proposed battery.
00:42But she says the fights hurt the community.
00:44Yes, there is division now and there will be that division.
00:47I'm not sure that you can heal it one way or the other.
00:53Just 20 minutes away in Yakadanda, the attitude to renewables couldn't be more stark.
00:58Because in the middle of the day, you don't need that power.
01:00The town has a 100 per cent renewables target, its retirement home the latest to go green.
01:06We certainly hope it is just the beginning and we're very excited about being part of
01:10it.
01:11I think it's excellent.
01:12You've got to keep getting up to date.
01:15Yakadanda's green projects may be smaller in scale to the Denerang battery proposal,
01:21but the town's not oblivious to the renewables debate in the valley.
01:26We're seeing some players on the national and state scale working very hard to discredit
01:32the potential of renewable energy.
01:35And experts warn that could play out at the polls.
01:38The coalition trying to differentiate themselves on energy policy has led to this kind of pulling
01:44apart of what the differences might be.
01:47A highly charged issue.