Turning on to turbines

Echo - Bellarine edition
Thursday 2/8/2007 Page: 3

A COMMUNITY-OWNED wind farm could form part of the Bellarine's answer to climate change, according to a Melbourne-based renewable energy company. Future Energy, in association with a local community group, plans to build a community owned wind farm 10km south of Daylesford, after the Hepburn Shire Council approved the proposal earlier this year. The proposal is awaiting a VCAT hearing but director David Shapiro said a similar project could operate on the Bellarine Peninsula. The Hepburn farm will consist of two turbines, each with a 2 megawatt capacity, and will produce enough energy for more than 2000 homes.

"The community then have the opportunity to invest directly in the project by buying shares," Mr Shapiro said. "The energy produced by wind turbines is supplied to the grid and sold to energy retailers and the profit from these energy sales is then distributed to the wind farm owners." Mr Shapiro said members of the public could invest in local wind turbine projects and reap long-term secure returns previously available only to large institutions. "You can also help produce clean energy and reduce pollution by lowering the amount of greenhouse gases," he said.

Mr Shapiro said any new wind turbines on the Bellarine would be about three times the size of the one at Breamlea. "You don't have to put them on the beach, you can put them inland," he said. Mr Shapiro said the local community association was a major driver for the Hepburn project. "They have over 400 members, which is a substantial part of the local population," Mr Shapiro said. "These people got together and decided they wanted to take responsibility for their own energy needs." Community-owned wind farms are popular in Europe and have been in operation since the 1980s.

Mr Shapiro said the company's co-operative model could work for other alternative energy projects, including solar, biofuel and biomass. City of Greater Geelong councillor Jan Farrell said she believed the community wind farm had merit. "Something like that could work out here," Cr Farrell said. "The council doesn't supply electricity but we do act as an advocate on these issues and I think it is worth investigation."