Wind power and the community

Narooma News
Wednesday 13/12/2006 Page: 15

SOME people believe that windfarms are beautiful and majestic, and represent a clean form of energy production - others believe they are a blight on the landscape. Either way, there's no doubt that appropriately sited wind farms can have benefits to a community at a local,
regional and state level. Just 15 wind turbines (a medium sized wind farm) can reduce the emission of 1,000 kilograms of greenhouse gases for each Megawatt-hour of electricity generated and substantially increase the amount of renewable electricity used locally.

However community division and disruption have accompanied recent proposals in NSW various Australian and international surveys on the public support for wind farms reveal that, while large majorities are strongly in favour of wind energy in Europe and Australia, it is critically important to address the social side of wind farms before they go ahead.

An Australian phone survey of 1027 people in August 2003 found strong support for renewable energy and wind farms; 95 per cent of respondents support or strongly support building wind farms to meet Australia's increasing demand for electricity.

Respondents from rural areas were as likely to support building wind farms as those residing in metropolitan areas. Visual impact and land value impact are generally the greatest concerns. The greatest opposition to a windfarm usually occurs from property owners that border a proposed wind farm site.

Community views in Scotland and Ireland (Warren et al. 2005) were studied before and after development of wind farms. Personal taste or aesthetics are the strongest single influence on attitudes. People with anti-wind farm views perceived turbines as more intrusive than those in favour of wind turbines, regardless of actual impacts such as recorded noise levels. The planning and development stage also critically influenced community attitudes - with more open and participatory processes winning far greater public support.

The study observed that exaggerated perceptions of negative impacts are often dispelled by the actual personal experience of living near a wind farm once developed. However, this should not discount real community concerns that can include impacts on `unspoilt' landscapes (including potential noise) and the potential speed, scale and uncoordinated nature of wind farm developments.

A windfarm development can provide significant economic benefit locally by involving local contractors, local services, lease agreements with involved land owners and potentially by upgrading community services. Ararat Shire's windfarm of 35 turbines in Victoria generates $50,000 per year (over the projected 25 year lifespan of the project) that is distributed across community organisations and projects.

A community-owned wind farm in the Daylesford area also offers a collective model for sharing the benefits that is worth investigating further. In the Bega Valley, a cooperative economic model that would benefit people who might live close to a windfarm would be worth exploring. Sharing in the investment costs would result in a greater share of the benefits to the local area.

Article prepared by Brooke Marshall, Philippa Rowland (Agricultural Scientist from Guerrilla Bay and CEFE member) and Nick Graham- Higgs. Both Brooke and Nick have completed the environmental assessment for a number of windfarm proposals in Southern NSW.

References - ARC (2003) The Australian Research Group Ply Ltd on behalf of the Australian Wind Energy Association.

Warren, C.R., Lumsden, C., O'Dowd, S.and Birnie, R. V. 2005, `Green on Green: Public Perceptions of Wind Power in Scotland and Ireland, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Vol 48, No. 6.873-875.