ABC News, www.abc.net.au 6 December 2010
There are plans for Central West communities to own and operate wind farms which are built in the region.
The State Government is holding a series of public forums to brief residents in Young and Manildra during the next two days and similar meetings are also planned for Bathurst and Orange early next year.
The Regional Energy Coordinator, Grant Christopherson, says the region’s towns currently rely on power from other areas.
He says community ownership of wind energy will give locals greater input into how it is used.
“There is an opportunity for some communities to take charge of generating their own electricity and in turn that will generate an income stream and in turn the community groups can decide what to do with that income stream,” he said.
Mr Christopherson says a number of concerns about noise and visual impact have been raised at a previous forum in Blayney
He says it is a good chance for pepole to find out more about the projects.
“There is always questions around noise and that was handled quiet well from Jonathan Karl, Department of Planning in Sydney and he sort of put up some really good examples and he sort of referred them back to what people could understand and that seemed to allay a lot of fears.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/12/06/public-forums-on-the-future-of-wind-farms/