Survey finds Australians support more incentives for renewable energy on farms

Tasmanian farmers are already pushing to be able to trade the energy they generate through wind and solar.

A survey by The Australia Institute found 82 per cent of respondents supported government grants to help farmers install wind and solar. Picture: STUART McEVOY.

THERE is overwhelming support for a government-funded program that helps landholders install wind and solar on their properties, a survey by think-tank The Australia Institute has found.

And respondents to the survey also largely said they were supportive of farmers selling energy directly to their neighbours.

Findings of the poll, conducted late last month and early this month, were presented this morning at a conference hosted by the Agri-Energy Alliance in Northern Tasmania for farmers looking to diversify their business and support their farm’s viability by generating renewable energy.

The Australia Institute had surveyed more than 1500 people from across Australia and found 76 per cent of respondents supported direct sales of energy from farmers to neighbours, with only 8 per cent opposed.

The Agri-Energy Alliance is a group of Tasmanian farmers lobbying for network changes that would allow them to use renewable energy generated on their properties while only paying for the distance it travelled across the grid, rather than the retail rate for power.

They also want the ability to be able to trade the energy they generate.

Agri-Energy Alliance founder Mark Barnett said it would make it viable for farmers to invest in large-scale solar and therefore strengthen the grid.

“More generation owned by more people creates more supply,” Mr Barnett said.

“This will lower prices, make Tasmania more resilient and more robust. When regional Tasmania thrives, all Tasmania’s thrives."

Voters from all political parties also supported a proposal for a government-funded scheme to help farmers take up renewables.

The results indicated even 78 per cent of One Nation voters supported the proposal, even though they were the voters who returned the lowest levels of support for the idea.

Overall, only one in 10 respondents were opposed.

Originally published as Survey finds Australians support more incentives for renewable energy on farms