South Coast councillors stick fingers in the wind

Sunday Canberra Times
Sunday 6/9/2009 Page: 6

THE SOUTH Coast is stimulating public debate on the region's potential to develop renewable energy, particularly wind energy The Southern Councils Group, which represents the seven councils from Wollongong to the Victorian border, recently issued its wind-farming concept study for public discussion.

The study found there were high-potential sites for wind farms on the South Coast, and said grid capacity and location seethed to favour small-scale wind-power developments of six to 10 turbines that would deliver 20 MWs.

The group's chairwoman, Sandra McCarthy, said, "The study is an independent report put together at minimal cost by council representatives across the region. It will provide the community with information on wind farming should any of our member councils be required to consider a proposal for such a development in the future."

The study was prompted by a proposal to look at community ownership models for wind farms. But the councils believe a government-funded $1 million feasibility study would be needed to "wind map" the region's potential. NSW Premier Nathan Rees announced this month his Government would speed up the planning process for "significant" windfarm developments and waive fees.

The Government also lowered the minimum size of wind farms that would be treated as "significant" from 250 MW to 30 MW. The South Coast, Cooma Monaro and the NSW-ACT border areas are listed among NSW's clean-energy precincts. The ACT's commissioner for sustainability and the environment, Maxine Cooper, spoke in Moruya this week about the area's considerable potential for alternative-energy generation.

"You have the chance to actually claim some of the market of the 94% of the energy we use that's currently from coal and to actually turn that into renewable energy," she said. "You have the ocean, you have the wind, and you have the sun.

You have an enormous resource out there that's untapped and, by tapping it, it can only help us all. Dr Cooper was delivering the State of the Environment Report for 2004-08 for the capital region to the Eurobodalla Shire.