No wind farm in our backyard thanks 

Yet another country town has unwillingly been enlisted to the frontline of the wind farm battle – this time it’s Molong.

Like other towns faced with similar battles, the community of Molong wants the government to consider the cumulative impacts these projects have on rural communities as more projects come through the pipeline.

The Molong community is rallying on Monday to voice concerns about the proposed Kerrs Creek Wind Farm project by developer, RES, which will include 63 wind towers at 254 metres high on prime agricultural land in the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.

They are concerned about the social and economic impacts as well as insurance implications with liability for landholders for third party claims, the decommissioning process and a lack of consultation. “People say you just don’t like the look of them, but the implications of these industrial turbines are far more far reaching than aesthetics.

There are multiple reasons why we don’t want them,“ said Nubrygyn fifth generation farmer Sally Braizer. Voice for Cabonne spokesperson Cassandra Sullivan said the project would be built in the Dubbo Local Government Area but sat at the border of Cabonne LGA. “It will be Cabonne residents that are going to carry the burden as funds are directed to Dubbo Council,“ Mrs Sullivan said.

She said many people had expressed their views to RES about alternative sites, including Burrendong Way closer to transmission lines that would impact far fewer people. “Industrial wind farms have cumulative effects that should not be viewed in isolation,“ she said. “These projects impact on communities in various ways, including transportation and logistics, insurance exposure, social implications, visual and noise pollution, decreased land valuations, reduction in future land use rights for stakeholders, environmental impacts and a strain on local housing and support services.

“The combined influence of these factors is significant and cannot be discounted. “If wind turbines are so safe, and beautiful to view, why aren’t they placed in metropolitan Sydney where they’d be closer to the consumers of electricity, and therefore far more efficient and a lot less prone to voltage drop given the large distances required to transport electricity?”

Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said NSW’s Central West, like many districts across regional Australia, was under threat from the government’s race to 82 per cent renewables by 2030, which was why he was meeting with locals to hear about their concerns.

RES development project manager Mark Roberts said the company had submitted a scoping report to the NSW government in September 2023 for the project and in October the Planning Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) was received. Mr Roberts said RES was undertaking detailed transport, ecology, agricultural impact, noise and visual assessments and once completed would include additional community information sessions before lodging an environmental impact statement.

“The project will produce enough renewable energy to supply the equivalent energy needs of around 300,000 households (assuming total annual consumption for a two person household; no pool; mains gas and on a market offer in NSW is 4215kWh (source: AEMC)), which is of critical importance to NSW as ageing coal fire powered stations retire,“ Mr Roberts said. “RES is committed to ensuring that this state-wide benefit does not have adverse local impact.“

Mr Roberts said the overall footprint of the wind farm and associated infrastructure would take up only a small portion of the overall project site, about two per cent with the improvements to on-farm infrastructure such as tracks and fencing supporting day to day management of the existing grazing enterprises.

“The project will be required to undertake a decommissioning management plan including rehabilitation plans at all turbine and infrastructure sites during, and post construction. This requires the removal of all above ground infrastructure and rehabilitation of the land to enable return to productive use,“ he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure said the NSW government was proposing a new policy framework for the assessment of large-scale solar and wind energy development and transmission infrastructure in NSW. The spokesperson said it would provide clarity and transparency about how renewable energy developments are assessed and managed. The spokesperson said once the EIS was publicly exhibited for community and council feedback, the applicant must then address all submissions raised in its response to submissions report. “The department then undertakes a rigorous assessment of the proposal, which will consider the application, the applicant’s responses and all submissions raised including cumulative impacts,“ the spokesperson said.