Turbines provide more than power

Colac Herald
08/09/2006 Page: 7

A South Australian farmer says wind turbines at Mount Gellibrand near Colac will not only provide electricity - they will help keep farm animals cool in summer.

Pat Thiele and her husband Dean have nine turbines on their land and their livestock stand in the towers' shadows to keep out of the sun. The Thieles' turbines are part of the Lake Bonney Wind Farm near Millicent in south-east South Australia.

Mrs Thiele lives one kilometre from the closest turbine and is one of about 10 landowners in stage one of the project. "We have nine turbines in four of our paddocks which go along a ridge," she said.

German energy company Proventum will begin building a $380-million wind farm at Mount Gellibrand next year, comprising 116 turbines 15 kilometres north-east of Colac.

Mrs Thiele said turbines on her land took about three months to erect. "We closed a paddock off for about three months for them to construct three turbines.

"But it didn't really affect us because if we knew they would start building in January we would graze that paddock in July and move the animals to another paddock.

"We weren't worried about it at all, we were more interested in watching it being done. "We have a photo album of the process from start to finish."

Mrs Thiele said she did not understand people's complaints about wind farms. "There were environmentalists who said the farm would be an eyesore, that the turbines would affect people's hearing and that they would kill the birds. But they don't really affect us.

"The only time we can hear them is at night when everything is turned off - but we can hear the sound of the sea more than we can hear them."

Mrs Thiele said she benefited in many ways as a landowner. "There is all the environmental stuff that goes along with it and it is obvious we get rent for their use, which never hurts anyone," she said.

"We had rocky outcrop in the ridge and developers took all the stone out when they built tracks to the mills. "Now we have nice tracks to drive on."

The Lake Bonney Wind Farm, developed by Babcock & Brown Wind Partners, will comprise 99 turbines.