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Wednesday 2 November 2022
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au STORMS over the weekend kept Hastings SES voluinteers busy, while on Friday the yacht Goldfinger, with number 007, was washed up on the beach in Mornington Harbour.
Wind brings down trees, grounds yacht
Pictures: Supplied by Hastings SES (main) and Gary Sissons (inset)
WINDS of up to 70kph were recorded at HMAS Cerberus early Monday morning. The gusty conditions were a continuation of Sunday’s wild weather when members of the SES Hastings were urging drivers to take care as reports mounted of storm damage, including flooding and downed trees. At Mornington, the winds played havoc with yachts with several being ripped from their moorings and washed ashore. One boat that broke away from its moorings at Mornington on Saturday had to be towed away on a truck, but was in “repairable” condition, according to Mornington Yacht Club spokesman Peter Davey. He said the dangerous conditions strengthened the case for a safe harbour at Mornington. Reaching up to 143kph in some parts of Victoria’s south east, the winds have also brought downs trees and kept emergency services busy for days.
Hastings port key link to offshore power Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au THE Port of Hastings is the preferred port to be used to support offshore wind power generation projects. The state government’s Navigating our Port Futures - Victorian Commercial Ports Strategy identifies land at Hastings suited to support the industry. The government is providing early
investment in the redevelopment of the Port of Hastings to support the establishment of the offshore wind sector, with Hastings offering the potential for construction, manufacturing and research firms to co-locate on land already zoned for these purposes. On its website the Port of Hastings Corporation says the port has land available adjacent to naturally deep shipping channels and has extensive appropriately zoned land that could
be developed to support the emerging offshore wind sector, including local manufacturing. The preference for the Port of Hastings comes after assessing and comparing the viability of various ports to deliver on offshore wind targets. The Premier Daniel Andrews says offshore wind will be a key component of Victoria’s clean energy future, which sets ambitious targets of 2GW of offshore generation by 2032, 4GW
of offshore wind capacity by 2035 and 9GW by 2040. The government predicts the state’s wind resources could sustain up to 6100 jobs - 3100 for 15 years during the development and construction phases, and an extra 3000 ongoing jobs during operations. The area of the Port of Hastings identified for redevelopment is the Old Tyabb Reclamation Area, between Esso’s Long Island Point plant and BlueScope
Steel. The development would require new buildings and berths. The port development will be progressed in consultation with community as well as being subject to an Environment Effects Statement, with the port being recognised as a Ramsar-listed wetland. The Department of Transport will manage the community and industry consultation process likely to begin at the end of this year.