Antinuclear

A new community windfarm- breakthrough in Victoria

“We wanted to spread financial benefits beyond the landowners, and we’ve done that through share ownership scheme,”

Vic wind farm breakthrough, with pioneering share structure, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson   12 June 2013   A small 5-turbine wind farm project with an innovative share ownership model has become the first wind energy project in the state of Victoria to receive council approval in recent years.

The application for the Coonooer Bridge wind farm – with 5 turbines of up to 150m tall to be built near the locality of the same name north-west of Bendigo – was approved by the Buloke Shire Council on Wednesday night.

It is a notable project for several reasons. It is the first wind farm proposal to gain approval from a council in the state since former Premier Ted Baillieu introduced restrictive planning policies in 2011. And the project –located between the towns of Charlton and St Arnaud, about 90 km northwest of Bendigo – is also the first in Australia to find a way to combine corporate and community ownership, and the first renewable energy project in the country with an ownership structure that includes the local farming community in this way.

In all, 30 owners of property sited within 3kms of the planned wind farm have been offered shares, including one family with turbines on their land. All have taken up the offer, despite the concerns about wind energy of some. Windlab, a spin-off from the CSIRO which has developed an expertise in identifying strong wind resource areas, retains the majority stake.

“We wanted to create a fair and open relationship with all landholders around the site, not just the landowners who would lease land for turbines,” says Luke Osborne, director of Coonooer Bridge Wind Farm Pty Ltd, who spent 12 months putting the agreement together. “We met a great community who were prepared to listen and, work with us. They have made the project earn its place in their region. Along the way this group of landholders have made an important contribution to renewable energy in Australia by demonstrating that a collaborative approach can maximise the benefits to regional Australia as well as avoid heated planning disputes.”

The structure and the approach of the project will certainly be studied with great interest by all those involved in the Australian wind industry, given the issues surrounding planning regulations in various states, the controversy over the Taswind proposal on King Island, proposed new rules for wind monitoring, the continuing push for studies into the health impacts of wind turbines, and a planned anti-wind rally in Canberra next week.

Nearly all of Australia’s 2,500MW of wind energy has been built under a conventional corporate structure. Just two small wind farms Australia have been developed with community ownership – Hepburn Wind in Victoria and Denmark in WA – although others are working on plans. Corporates are also experimenting and Infigen Energy is looking at the idea of selling one turbine to the local community in a proposed wind farm near Orange.

Osborne says that the structure is a bit of a hybrid between the community ownership model of the 2-turbine Hepburn Wind Farm, and the community models developed successfully in Europe.

“We wanted to spread financial benefits beyond the landowners, and we’ve done that through share ownership scheme,” Osborne says……. For the project to proceed, however, it will need to find a major corporate consumer of electricity to buy the output. And Osborne said that he hoped that the good relationship with the Coonooer Bridge landholders would be valued by the market.

“Renewable energy is overwhelmingly supported by the Australian population. This project can deliver that energy and also play a positive role in a small farming community.” ……..

See RenewEconomy’s dedicated section on Community Power. – See more at: http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/vic-wind-farm-breakthrough-with-pioneering-share-structure-75914#sthash.lomo02zF.dpuf

June 13, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Victoria, wind