Locals concerned over SunCable proposal to manufacture subsea cable in northern Tasmania

Charles Sherlock and his wife had not intended to stay in Tasmania, until they found a peaceful riverside town in the state's north.

"We discovered Clarence Point and the lifestyle that it gives, and we decided to move here to stay and retire," Mr Sherlock said.

The Sherlocks' backyard opens up to an expansive view of the Tamar River, but in the future it could be directly opposite a 200-metre tower.

The proposed tower on the other side of the river, which would be Tasmania's tallest structure, is a small piece of a larger project.

Renewable energy company SunCable is planning to build a massive 6-gigawatt solar farm in the Northern Territory. A power plant that is big enough to be seen from space.

The company hopes to send some of that electricity to Singapore via a 4,300-kilometre underwater cable, although it has not yet secured the tender from the south-east Asian nation.

It is that cable the company hopes to build at a facility in northern Tasmania, adjacent to the Bell Bay industrial estate.

SunCable proposed the Tasmanian manufacturing project in November last year, citing the state's stable climate and access to power and a deep-sea port as reasons for the location.

But there is a sense of "confusion and dismay" from some in the local community about the potential impacts on their tranquil part of the world.

Earmarked location not convincing some locals

A key part of the proposal is a 200-metre tower that will be used to apply insulation to the conductor, before it becomes a cable.

The company says the height of the tower is critical to the manufacture and performance of the cable.

It is perhaps the most contentious aspect of the proposal for locals, who fear the tower will absorb their homes in shadows and spoil the views they thought they would have for life.

With nothing between the Sherlocks' home and the proposed development except water, Mr Sherlock worries about the noise from years of construction.

"There's really a sense of confusion and dismay from local people," he said.

Mr Sherlock would rather see the development pushed back further from the river, to reduce the impact of construction and operational noise on river wildlife and Clarence Point locals.

"Our real concern is not necessarily whether SunCable stacks up, it's where it should be located," he said.

But SunCable says the facility must be located right next to the river port to ensure the cable's integrity when it is eventually exported.

The company is commissioning 20 studies for the facility to assess the impact on the environment and of issues such as noise, air and artificial light.

Mr Sherlock's neighbour, Gail Hack, sees the benefit of the project in the face of accelerating climate change.

But she wants to ensure the community has a say, and with her husband George, has been circulating information about the proposal to other locals.

"We wanted to really try to get the facts out there," Ms Hack said

"We feel as if the community haven't really understood what's going on or are even aware that things are going on."

The way she sees it, locals have to be informed from the get go before the development has progressed too far.

"You're voiceless when it gets that far down the track," she said.

SunCable gets to work consulting public

At a community consultation session in Beaconsfield last week, SunCable was on the front foot addressing the concerns of local residents.

It was one of several sessions that took place around the area ahead of the company lodging an application for major project status with the Tasmanian government, which if granted, would lead to further public hearings.

Some residents were sceptical whether their input would count for anything, and how transparent SunCable and the state government's decision-making would be.

Others were hopeful about the prospect of green jobs for local young people, although were concerned they would go to fly-in, fly-out workers.

The state government says the project will bring more than 1,000 jobs to Tasmania and $350 million into the economy every year, while also contributing to global decarbonisation efforts.

A representative from the Department of State Growth told the meeting that conversations were happening with TasTAFE and University of Tasmania about providing courses to equip Tasmanians with the necessary skills to work on the project.

SunCable's stakeholder engagement lead, Sophie Rowlands, said the company has started consultation early to incorporate the views of locals from the get go.

"We've gone early, sometimes to our detriment, because sometimes there have been questions to which we don't have the answers," she said.

"We've come in early to community in order to try and understand what's important to these communities, what they value — and that's on both sides of the Tamar."

Ms Rowlands said the project brought "enormous opportunities" and it was important to maximise benefits to the community.

Mistrust of developers in renewable landscape

As renewable infrastructure springs up around the country, attention is turning to how to properly engage communities in the process.

A survey asked more than 250 landholders and community members about their experience of community engagement on renewable energy projects, as part of a review for the federal climate change minister.

It found 92 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the extent of engagement from developers.

The report stated renewable projects could benefit local communities, but the current landscape had created mistrust in green energy projects.

Sara Bice, an expert on community engagement in infrastructure at the Australian National University, said the renewable developments could fall over without a social licence.

"It is absolutely critical that community's concerns and priorities are balanced with the urgency of the renewables rollout," she said.

She said legislative requirements for renewable developments were not as stringent as other major infrastructure projects.

"That's partly because renewables are seen as both a necessary and a positive development, and also because they're falling under different legislation," she said.

"What that means for communities is that they're getting really patchy engagement and consultation."

In the case of SunCable, she said it was "good practice" that the engagement had started early.

"Consultation is effective when it's early, when it's genuine, when it's open and accessible, and when community members have a real opportunity to influence and inform what actually happens," she said.

Other battles ahead for 'massive project'

SunCable has already faced existential challenges.

A dispute between its billionaire backers, Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes, over the viability of sending power to Singapore led to the company entering voluntary administration in January last year.

In May, it was announced Mr Cannon-Brookes would take control of the project.

Energy industry expert Marc White, the principal consultant at Goanna Energy Consulting, said SunCable had many more challenges ahead of it.

He said some energy would be lost in the 4,300-kilometre transfer to Singapore.

"You put more energy in one end of the cable to get a limited amount out the other end," he said.

"The commercial viability of the project has to consider those line losses."

That is on top of astronomical costs to build the solar and battery facility, as well as the cable and its manufacturing facility, he said.

"It's a massive project," Mr White said.

"And probably one of the other issues that we'll have to address is the cable going through multiple territorial waters."

Mr White said Singapore may be reluctant to have 15 per cent of its energy needs — what SunCable proposes to contribute — running through international waters, rendering it vulnerable in the event of conflict.

If the project falls over, the need for a tower in northern Tasmania likely dies.