A south-west man with political aspirations hopes the rejection of a solar farm at Bookaar will not spell the end of the project.
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Tom Campbell, who has stood as the candidate for The Greens in the South West Coast seat on three occasions, said he hoped a compromise between the company behind it and the objectors could be met.
"Anything that we can do to support the transition to renewable energy should be given as much support as possible," Mr Campbell said.
He said the benefits needed to be weighed against the impact on the community, but believed everything should be done to ensure renewable energy projects go ahead.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upheld Corangamite Shire Council's decision to reject the proposal for a 588-hectare solar farm that would house 700,000 solar panels.
In their findings, VCAT's Mark Dwyer and Margaret Baird said they did not have enough information on hydrological issues, bushfire management or the adequacy of information provided to make a decision on the proposal.
The VCAT officers ruled the applicant had not submitted a substantive risk and hazard assessment with regard to bushfires.
"There is no assessment of the capacity of the local brigade to deal with bushfire in or around the proposed facility," they wrote in their findings.
The officers also concluded that the proposal would result in the loss of productive agricultural land.
"It involves the loss of a substantial quantum of land for three decades, notwithstanding it may be a very small proportion in the wider agricultural land resource," they wrote.
The state government recently released its solar farm guidelines, which are yet to be formally adopted.
In the guidelines, it is stated that a solar farm must not result in increased exposure of the area to fire or flood - which was one of the concerns of objectors.
Objectors to the proposal celebrate news the project had been knocked back last week, with Andrew Duynhoven saying he had conceded the only way they would win would be with the implementation of conditions that would make it unviable.
Corangamite Shire Council rejected the proposal in late 2018.