Tired of sitting on their hands and waiting for the Federal Government, Australian communities are setting their own targets in greening our nation’s energy sources. But it won’t be an easy feat, writes Isabelle O’Connor.

A wind farm.

As Australians are becoming more eco-aware, small scale wind farm projects are being lauded as an ideal way for communities to tap into the environmental and financial outputs of renewable energy.

“People have stopped thinking that this renewable energy and climate change stuff is all dreadlocked-Greens-hugging-trees business,” says Ben van der Wijngaart, Deputy Mayor of Kiama on the New South Wales South Coast.

“There’s a spirit of ‘Heck, we’ve got to do stuff” and it’s contagious.”

Van der Wijngaart has been championing green energy and wind power in particular for many years and is now leading the campaign for New South Wales communities to start up their own wind farms. He is currently compiling a proposal to be put before the Southern Councils Group in a bid to start selecting sites for wind farms on the State’s South Coast.

Community wind farming has proven highly successful in European countries such as Denmark where 80% of wind farms are community owned. Australian communities are starting to follow this lead with two such projects having been initiated in Western Australia and Victoria.

In Western Australia, final planning is currently underway for a community wind farm in the ironically named, Denmark Shire. The two-turbine wind farm will likely be situated at Wilson Head and will supply up to 55% of Denmark’s electricity needs. Similarly the Hepburn Shire in Victoria is eagerly awaiting the Hepburn Community Wind Park which is expected to commence operation in early 2010. The wind farm will consist of two turbines that will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 2,300 homes. In both of these communities, wind was the primary choice for starting up a renewable energy initiative in the area.

“We are confident that for value wind energy is the stand alone performer,” says Scott Kinnear, Director of Hepburn Wind Park.

Besides the obvious environmental advantages in greening community energy, wind power also promises strong financial return.

“Of all the renewable options, wind and solar are currently the only proven technologies. That is, they work, and they’re commercially viable,” says Craig Chappelle Chairman of the Denmark Community Wind farm Group (DCW).

The significant difference of these initiatives from privately owned wind farms is that instead of big business having the final say, communities are in control. The Hepburn project is a partnership between the Hepburn community and Future Energy Pty Ltd whose role is providing risk capital and offering expertise and project management. Future Energy currently owns the wind farm but will sell it to community members once enough capital is raised.

Managing Director David Shapero emphasises that the wind farm has been developed with a view to full community ownership and control.

“Many developers develop a project past the permit and sell it to a large energy company but we are a little bit different in that from the start we develop the project for the benefit of the community to own it,” he says.

Chappelle also recognises the tendency for government to come along with large developers announcing the erection of a wind farm in a site of their choice but with the energy crisis only escalating, the sands are shifting.

“Instead we now say ‘these are the advantages to the community: it’s in your hands, your control, you make the ultimate decisions on these issues as a community, look at the pros and the cons and see what’s in it for you,” he says.

Various models of community ownership have been conceived but the most popular of these is arguably the co-operative model. This model is owned and controlled by its members who purchase shares in the wind farm and operates democratically on the basis of one member, one vote. In Hepburn, over 600 applicants bought shares totalling $3.5 million, with a projected dividend of 7.2 to 19.4 cents per share. It is expected that this will grow as the energy crisis continues. The Denmark Community Wind Farm will operate under a similar model of a company funded by public shares. A trust will also be created into which the company will deposit some of the profits to be used for other community projects.

Now communities are regaining power and Shapero notes that community-owned energy confers endless opportunities to locals. There will be a high premium on renewable energy and communities will be able to share in the gain. Energy may be used for other purposes that are vital to the community such as purifying water, recycling water or charging electric cars they may using in the future.

“Having your own energy which you control could be very, very powerful. It gives you what people in the community call energy security in the future,” he says.

Unsurprisingly, another key benefit from these wind farms is the source of jobs they will create.

“If you stop and think about how much investment that is for the country, it’s an enormous industry; it means it’s a growth industry for the next 50 years. That is just an enormous job producer. Ongoing, all levels, skilled, unskilled, expert – it is potentially just massive,” says Shapero.

Van der Wijngaart highlights that this market is dependent on a strong renewable energy target and willingness for our country to overcome its ‘coal addiction’. He cites his ‘favourite statistic’, that in the previous 20 years, 18,000 jobs were lost in Australian coal but in Denmark over 16,000 jobs were created in the wind industry.

There is potential to build turbines in Australia instead of importing them from overseas by thinking beyond flat steel to consider building towers, turbines and nacelles.

“The writing’s on the wall, so bold and so large – just people don’t want to read it,” he says.

Yet if such opportunities could be concentrated within communities within a supportive market, people will want to read it. Placing locals at the forefront of these projects has so far attracted strong public support that appears to only to be growing.

‘Put in that frame: the facts about wind power and the alternatives – I’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response,” says van der Wijngaart.

Shapero also reported an ‘amazing’ response in favour of the Hepburn project.

“When we put in our application to council, the community put in over 350 letters of support which is unheard of for a council application,” he says.

However, not everyone has taken to this idea and there is still considerable scepticism and NIMBY-ism, that is, “Not In My Back Yard”. Issues such as the visual impact of turbines on the landscapes of wind farm sites, the impact on surrounding land values and carbon emissions required to set up wind farms prove to be vital community concerns.

This was a significant hurdle in the development of the Denmark Shire wind farm.

“Being the first project of its kind in Australia, it has encountered a number of unforeseen hurdles – not least by being innovative, thereby attracting some public apathy, and quite a lot of political and bureaucratic scepticism,” says Chappelle.

Initially the Denmark Shire Council had voted 8 to 4 four against the proposal and the Minister’s own Statutory Planning Committee had recommended against it. However, in its sixth year, due to the tireless efforts a comprehensive community-awareness campaign, Chappelle says that the project has succeeded against all but “a tiny clique of dedicated NIMBYs.”

The Hepburn project also faced opposition. The project received 18 letters of objection and successfully fought an appeal against VCAT’s decision to grant planning approval for the site. It appears that New South Wales may not be immune from these issues in its quest to get windmills turning. Similar concerns were voiced by Matt Brown MP last March in response to the announcement by New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees of incentives to invest in wind farm projects last February with the South Coast identified as one of the five primary regions for wind farm development.

However, in a recent meeting with State and Federal MPs including Carmel Tebbutt who welcomed his proposal, van der Wijngaart says that Brown is a sole exception.

“It’s become a non-partisan issue. We’ve got the three major political parties saying that locally ‘This is good for us, let’s work on it together’ with the singular exception of Matt Brown who is actually talking against his own government,” he says.

When asked to comment on his stance on this issue, Brown did not reply. Yet van der Wijngaart is quick to highlight that the aim of the game is to get this project moving and not make it a political football. More specifically, it is about encouraging communities to set the pace rather than waiting on government to do so.

It is hoped that community spirit needed to start up more small scale projects will soar by continuing to educate the community to open their eyes as to the value of wind farms. As Chappelle explains, in the long run, ‘bringing people around’ has more rewards than ‘beating’ them. Kinnear agrees.

“You know, you can’t make people want something but the least you can do is show respect and give them all the information that you can and continue to engage with them,” he says.

Yet winning over communities is not the toughest feat as other obstacles including obtaining finance proving difficult in the current economic climate. Government grants help to cover costs but the majority of the funds must be raised by public and corporate investment.

“We got a little bit hit by the financial crisis. We were going along well and when that hit, it was a real struggle to get people excited and willing to invest,” says Shapero.

If there is any upside to the recent economic turmoil, it is that it offers stark contrast as to where investment has gone in the past and where investment should go.

“There are real opportunities here to say ‘Hey this is a really good investment for the future. This is something that we are going to have to go to,’” van der Wijngaart says.

Planning laws also pose as an impediment, with legislation in states including Victoria and New South Wales making no concessions for small projects. This means that a wind farm of two turbines would need to undertake the same level of environmental impact assessment as one of 50 turbines, a fairly onerous task particularly for small communities.

However, Chappelle says that if Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is a wind farm.

“Expect disappointments, and build in flexibility. No-one imagined that our project would take six-plus years!” he says.

Small scale wind farms certainly do not come to life by placing a few posts in a windy paddock but require ongoing consultation, funding and are an endless learning process. Nonetheless the prospected outcomes are nothing short of remarkable in building sustainable, self-sufficient communities and empowering Australians to do what is right for their immediate environment.

“Personally I like the leadership role we are taking – this empowers other communities to follow – it means we work a lot harder but the benefit is multi layered and inspirational,” says Kinnear.

In his vision for the South Coast, van der Wijngaart agrees.

“Ultimately what I’d like to see is a strong, resilient set of communities who realise that they need to act and can’t just sit back and complain about government not doing anything. This wind power project is one very powerful way of doing that.”

Attitudes are clearly changing proving that a handful of people can make a difference. So if governments are going to be slow about overcoming their penchant for fossil fuels, communities will need to lead the way to a sustainable future reaping significant benefits in the process.