Australian farmers missing opportunity to profit by farming energy
Farmers squeezed out of energy boon, MATTHEW CAWOOD, Stock and Land 04 Feb, 2012 LANDHOLDERS should be capitalising on seismic changes in how we generate energy, says Matthew Wright, but instead they are being
pushed aside.
Mr Wright, executive director of Beyond Zero Emissions, thinks the thrust of current government policy will be to deny many landholders the ability to profit from wind generation, while compromising the enterprises of other landholders who host coal seam gas (CSG) operations without sharing in CSG profits.
Beyond Zero Emissions, a non-profit organisation, has the goal of moving Australia “from a 19th century fossil fuel based economy to a 21st century renewable powered clean tech economy”.
Wind turbines are “about as benign as it gets” for power generation, Mr Wright said, adding CSG is a “fairly destructive option for resource exploitation”.
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Victoria’s Baillieu Liberal government was able to limit, but not stop, this last new wind farm
Wind farm to be built near Colac, The Age, Adam Morton, January 25, 2012 A $400 million wind farm will be built in Victoria’s Western District six years after receiving planning approval from the state government. Spanish company Acciona Energy said the 63-turbine plant at Mount Gellibrand, 25 kilometres east of Colac, would generate enough power
to run about 88,000 homes. Construction of the 189-megawatt clean energy plant, scaled down from an initial proposal of 116 turbines, will start in March.
The wind farm needed final government approval before construction could begin, but was not subject to new planning laws announced by the Baillieu government in August giving households a right of veto over turbines within two kilometres of their home. The revised laws apply to new applications only…..
Mr Wickham said Acciona was yet to decide whether it would go ahead with three other wind farm proposals — at Newfield, Berrimal and Mortlake South — granted planning permits under the previous Labor government. He said the changes to planning laws, which include a ban on wind farms at tourist sites such as the Macedon Ranges and the Great Ocean
Road, meant it was “probably more beneficial for us to be looking in other states” for future projects…
Health and welfare groups have rejected claims turbines cause illness. The Climate and Health Alliance, a coalition of 20 groups including the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australian Psychological Society, this week released a statement that there was no credible evidence in peer-reviewed scientific journals linking turbines to illness.
Documents obtained by environment group Friends of the Earth show NSW health officials dismissed claims by the Waubra Foundation and told the state’s ministers there was no evidence of “wind turbine syndrome”. The National Health and Medical Research Council is due to release a full review of scientific literature on wind farms and health bymid-year. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wind-farm-to-be-built-near-colac-20120124-1qfwx.html#ixzz1kVcrktpg
Dubious claims that wind farms make people sick
Science on wind turbine illness dubious, say experts. SMH, Ben Cubby, January 24, 2012 FEARS that wind turbines make people sick are ”not scientifically valid”, and the arguments mounted by anti-wind farm campaigners are unconvincing, according to confidential briefings given to the state government by NSW Health.
Documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws show that health officials repeatedly warned ministers last year that there was no evidence for ”wind turbine syndrome”, a collection of ailments including sleeplessness, headaches and high blood pressure that some people believe are caused by the noise of spinning blades.
But the department’s advice contrasts with the view of the Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, who was responsible for draft guidelines, released in December, that significantly tighten the approvals process……
One study by Nina Pierpont, which is central to the claims that wind turbines make people ill, was dismissed as ”not of sufficient scientific rigour” by NSW Health. ”This ‘study’ is not a rigorous epidemiological study; it is a case series of 10 families drawn from a wide range of locations,” according to the ministerial briefing on July 5 last year. ”This work has not been properly peer reviewed. Nor has it been published in the peer-reviewed literature. The findings are not scientifically valid, with major methodological flaws stemming from the poor design of the study.”
The documents, obtained under FOI laws by the environment group Friends of the Earth, say existing studies had been examined and no known causal link could be established. The assessment undermines the claims of an anti-wind farm group, the Waubra Foundation, which had been lobbying the government for a moratorium on new wind farms.
“The documents from NSW Health confirm our belief that the foundation has been ‘cherry picking’ data that supports its allegations about ‘wind turbine syndrome’ by talking with people who believe they have … symptoms,” said a Friends of the Earth spokesman, Cam Walker. ”This becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy and is not the basis of good science … Yet, as has been noted by a growing number of medical authorities, there is no credible evidence of a causal link between turbines and ill health.”……
A landowner near Lake George, Marcia Osborne, said her family had had no medical problems or trouble sleeping from the seven or eight turbines close by. ”Quite the opposite really, they’ve done nothing but help us,” she said.
”We are farmers … things were pretty tough [during the drought] … When they asked us if they could put a wind farm on the place it was like a gift from God. We used to curse the wind, now we get paid for the wind.”
The guidelines are on exhibition until March 14. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/science-on-wind-turbine-illness-dubious-say-experts-20120123-1qe98.html#ixzz1kPuwgvpd
Rural communities favour wind farms, CSIRO study finds
CSIRO finds stronger wind farm support than media reflects, ABC Rural News, 17/01/2012 A CSIRO study has found there’s stronger community support for wind farms than reported in newspapers.
The case study looked at nine communities with wind farms and interviewed everyone from wind companies, to local government, turbine hosts and people both opposed to and supporting wind farms.
One of the authors of the report “Acceptance of rural wind farms in Australia” Dr Jim Smitham says residents don’t seek media attention to express their views.
“In presenting a balance picture, if there are groups of people who have a single point of view and are very strident in expressing that, they might appear to drown out some of the wider group who have lots of other reasons for support,” he says. http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201201/s3409653.htm
Whisper quiet wind turbines for Australia
Newly-introduced policy regulations in states such as Victoria and South Australia have seen a number of changes to the zoning of wind farms. According to Mr Le Messurier, however, the Eco Whisper Turbine does not face the same limitations as larger turbines.
“One of the major concerns from a community standpoint around wind turbines is the issue of noise. The planning response we have had from the Victorian government, however, is that [the wind legislation] doesn’t apply to us, given that the Eco Whisper is virtually silent,” Mr Le Messurier said.
“The quietness of the wind turbine and its ability to operate effectively in a range of wind conditions makes it well-suited for organisations seeking to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of the Federal Government’s carbon pricing mechanism.”.
Quiet as a Whisper Ecogeneration, 12 Jan 12, The Eco Whisper Turbine, recently released by Renewable Energy Solutions Australia Holdings Limited, is believed to be the world’s quietest 20 kilowatt wind turbine. Due to its unique design, which sees the Eco Whisper Turbine’s blades housed within a cowl that sits around the outside of the turbine, the 20 kilowatt (kW) product is virtually silent. Continue reading
Wind farming an economic opportunity for Australia’s struggling farmers
Wind farms in Australia face the toughest guidelines in the world in relation to their siting, operation and permissible 
noise levels.
opponents of renewable energy seem determined to use wind farms as political footballs, fuelling community divisions they claim they want to avoid. They make inflammatory claims about noise – when a wealth of scientific research shows that noise from wind farms does not have a harmful effect on people.
Thornton: Winds of change for farmers Adelaide Now, by: Kane Thornton January 11, 2012 WIND turbines can help save struggling farms, argues Kane Thornton. LIFE on the land has only become tougher. The cruel effects of drought, fires and floods, along with the strong Aussie dollar and challenging global markets, have pushed farming families to the limit.
In many cases, diversification has been the key to their survival. Responding to changing market dynamics, consumer demands and weather conditions by moving into different crops, livestock and land uses, is helping save the family farm.
It would be a brave outsider who demanded the removal of the farmer’s right to make those choices for themselves.
Yet that is what the activists opposed to wind farms are doing.
They are saying that individual farmers should not have the right to choose wind farming to help them drought-proof their properties, make better use of marginal farming land, or insure against market downturns. But for those farmers fortunate enough to live in some of the windiest places in the world, farming wind can be the best option. Continue reading
Success for Australia’s coal lobby, with new laws against wind farms in N.S.W. and Victoria
The state’s conservative Premier, Barry O’Farrell, .. has said that he personally opposes any no new wind farms.
public concerns about turbines have been “aided and abetted” by climate sceptics who have launched a Tea Party-style fear campaign. The campaign has featured local lobby groups protesting under the banner of “landscape guardians” – believed to be based on Britain’s Country Guardian.
The NSW Greens said the proposal would kill off the wind-generation sector in favour of coal seam gas projects
Australian state launches world’s toughest wind turbine laws, Telegraph UK 24 Dec 11 Australia’s most populus state has proposed the world’s toughest laws on wind turbines, with a plan to give all residents within 1.25 miles a veto over new projects.By Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney 23 Dec 20111. The New South Wales Government proposed the new rules following controversial rural wind farms which angered residents over noise and raised claims the vibrations cause stress and illness.
Under the proposals, turbines will be subject to a noise limit of 35 decibels, five decibels less than in the state of Victoria, which has similar guidelines. The NSW planning minister, Brad Hazzard, said the measures were “some of the toughest wind-farm guidelines in the country, possibly the world”. “One hundred per cent of neighbours have to be happy within that
two-kilometre zone,” he said. Continue reading
Bendigo calls on Victorian government to reverse its anti wind energy legislation
Bendigo joins wind farm planning fight, ABC News, December 02, 2011 The State Government is coming under further pressure from central Victoria to overturn its controversial changes to wind farm planning rules. The Victorian Government moved in August to establish no-go zones for turbines in selected areas across the state, including land around Bendigo.
The decision upset several local environment groups and the Mt Alexander Shire at Castlemaine was among the first councils to voice opposition to the move. Bendigo Mayor Rod Fyffe says his council has also voted to ask the Government to reverse the decision…..”On balance, we feel that it was a decision that we would like to see reversed so that communities can look at what they want, work out what they want and plan for what they want.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-02/bendigo-joins-wind-farm-planning-changes-fight/3708280
Danish visitors puzzled by Victoria’s laws against wind farms
Wind turbine rules mystify Danes, The Age, Adam MortoNovember 26, 2011 The head of the world’s largest wind energy company has questioned the Baillieu government’s rationale for giving households veto rights over turbines within two kilometres of their homes.
Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Danish company Vestas, said he had ”no idea” where the policy had come from. Mr Engel, who is visiting Victoria with Crown Prince Frederik and Tasmanian-born Crown Princess Mary, said no one had explained the motivation for Victoria’s most restrictive regulations on turbines.
Mr Engel backed opening wind farms to the public to dispel myths about wind power. Denmark generates a quarter of its energy from wind power. Vestas had turbine blade manufacturing plants in Victoria and Tasmania, but they closed in 2007 over policy uncertainty… http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wind-turbine-rules-mystify-danes-20111125-1nzb0.html#ixzz1eqqTjYpA
Big energy purchase deal for New South Wales wind farm
Origin Energy Buying Electricity From Gunning Wind Farm by Energy Matters, 24 Nov 11 Origin Energy has expanded its renewable energy portfolio, entering into a long-term power purchase agreement to buy electricity from Acciona’s Gunning Wind Farm.
Under the deal, Origin will initially purchase federal government issued Large-Scale Renewable Energy Certificates (LSREC) from Acciona for a period of two years, beginning January 2012. From January 1st 2014, the agreement allows Origin to buy both the LSRECs and the power generated by the wind farm for a further eight years; with an option to extend. Continue reading
Global renewable energy – China is the leader
“The level of wind energy being deployed in China shows what can be achieved with a carefully planned energy and industrial policy that elevates cleantech to a national strategic level,”
China secures the lead in renewable energy – UPI.com, BEIJING, 1 Dec. 10 — China is now the leader in the global renewable energy market, a report by Ernst & Young says. Continue reading
Victorian election – not a good result for Climate Change action
Mr Baillieu has said he will abandon Labor’s plan for a staged closure of the Hazelwood coal power station….and introducing tougher planning regulations that would prevent wind turbines being erected in tourist areas…..
Coalition has explaining to do on climate targets, The Age, Adam Morton, November 30, 2010“……….Environment Victoria, the state’s main green lobby group, said there were many gaps in the new government’s environment and climate policy stance as it had not outlined its full plans before the election as promised. Continue reading
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Australia 2011
Clean Energy Australia 2011 2 8 Feb – 2 Mar, 2011 Hilton SydneyStreet: 488 George StreetCity: Sydney Welcome to Clean Energy Australia 2011 – Asia Pacific’s premier clean energy event.Clean Energy Australia focuses on generation strategy, efficiency and commercial outcomes. Discover the business case for investing in clean energy. Continue reading
UK govt website promotes community renewable energy projects
Dubbed Community Energy Online, the new site offers local authorities and community groups detailed advice and case studies demonstrating how to select and deliver local low-carbon and renewable energy projects.
Coalition calls on ‘big society’ to embrace small energy New Community Energy Online web site to provide guidance on how to deliver local renewables projects, BusinessGreen, By James Murray25 Nov Continue reading
Victorian Greens will promote transition from coal to renewable energy
Renewable energy has become a hot topic in the lead up to Victoria’s November 27 election, with the Clean Energy Council of Australia predicting a $9 billion cash windfall for the state from renewable energy projects.
Greens Pledge To Divert Millions From Coal Into Renewable Energy, Renewable Energy News : by Energy Matters, 19 Nov 10, The Victorian Greens say they will redirect $150 million away from a proposed coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley and put the money into renewable energy projects instead. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 