Ballarat Courier
Monday 26/3/2007 Page: 6
ON MOST days the flags flying in Ballarat to celebrate the seasons or a special event are filled out by a stiff breeze. In many other inland cities similar flags hang limply or are propped up by cantilevers. Ballarat's windy climate is a feature not lost on wind power companies.
One such company is Melbourne-based Wind Power Pty Ltd and one of its directors, Steve Buckle, says the attraction of the area is not just that it is windy, but that the wind speed is in the right range to have turbines turning almost constantly.
"A wind turbine turns on at 4m a second and turns off at 25m a second. "It would be only a small amount of time and the wind would go over 25m a second (in the Ballarat region) and it is nearly always at least 41n a second."
Much of the area around Ballarat is cleared of bush, at the windy elevation of 400m and with high voltage transmission lines nearby - also attractive to windpower companies. The hills around Ballarat have another advantage for wind power generation - the wind is usually cool. "Cold air is denser and pushes harder against the turbines," Mr Buckle said.
Before landholders are approached most of the company's research is carried out at a desk. The Victorian wind atlas is a constant reference, as are topography maps. It is not always landholders who are approached. Mr Buckle says Wind Power Pty Ltd would receive 30 to 40 calls a year from farmers who claim their properties would be suitable for a wind farm.
Despite vocal opposition from some farmers, Mr Buckle says "hardly ever would we meet a landowner who didn't want turbines on their property." He says most councils are also interested in wind power. "Pyrenees Shire is very receptive to the idea and they have a great attitude to it - and they probably have the most experience with wind farms as well," Mr Buckle said.
Smeaton has now registered on the radar of wind power potential, but not everyone has welcomed the interest. Farmer Leighton Evans is chairman of the Spa Country Landscape Guardians and lives about 1200m from the proposed wind farm site. The landscape guardian groups have been established to fight windfarm proposals in sensitive areas, and Mr Evans said there were 44 of the groups in Victoria. The wind farm at Smeaton is proposed for north of the town and would be partly built at the Tuki Trout Farm.
Between Smeaton and the trout farm protest signs have appeared and trucks parked in paddocks have been spray painted with "Buckle Bracks" and "No Tuki Turbines". Mr Evans and a fellow farmer have erected a mock 8m turbine, bent in the middle. Noise and the visual impact are chief among residents' concerns. Mr Evans said eagles were often seen above the proposed turbines site. Despite not wanting the 19-turbine wind farm, Mr Evans is in favour of sustainable energy sources.
"We are not against wind farms as such," he said. "We totally agree with the State Government's views on sustainable energy and development, it's just the positioning of it." The area on which the turbines are to be installed at Smeaton are known as the Stoney Rises, and Mr Evans said they were partly protected by a planning overlay which forbids "intrusive and obstructive" development.
"If a turbine 41 storeys high isn't intrusive or obstructive I don't know what is," he said. "We have faith in the Hepburn planners - they will stick to the overlay." He says the Federal Government backing of "clean coal" technology and Australia's vast coal reserves could mean wind farms would be superfluous.
Tuki Trout Farm's Robert Jones said if the wind farm was built his family would be living within a kilometre of the nearest turbines. He believes in the effort to produce more renewable energy and is keen to see whether turbines can be added to his diverse farming operation, which already includes tourist accommodation and more traditional farming activities.
Tuki was bought in 1960 by Robert's father, Donald, who died in February this year. Mr Jones said before he died, his father had approved of Tuki being a wind farm site. "We need energy, we need more of it and someone has to bite the bullet and be the carrier." He said many residents supported the plan, if not its location. "In the general public arena people will come up and be very supportive and congratulate us in allowing it to go on to the property. People who are negative are supportive of wind farms generally, but they just don't want it in their backyard," he said.
At Yendon, Geoff Fisken is equally receptive to accommodating wind turbines on his family's farm, Lal Lal Estate, which totals more than 2000ha. He sees two primary reasons for getting involved.
"There's a financial incentive and in times of drought it's hard to make a living off the farm and in a way it drought-proofs us," he said. "I look at it as just another way of farming." Climate change is also a motivating factor. "I thought I was a doubter of global warming until last year. The seasons are drier and warmer. It's pretty hard to refute the scientific evidence behind that." Mr Fisken believes the turbines will provide a product always in demand and not at the mercy of price fluctuations that affect more usual farm commodities.
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