Rural towns paying renewable price without power savings
Chris Bowen wants renewable developers to provide host communities with cheaper power bills. Some residents in the eye of the storm are still waiting.
Residents living near contentious renewable energy projects are not being offered electricity bill relief despite Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen urging developers to provide discounts to impacted communities.
Landholders near major developments approved in the NSW Central-West Orana, Australia’s most advanced renewable energy zone, have not been promised any deals to lower their power bills, even as they struggle with a rush of planned projects that will transform the rural region near Dubbo into a modern-day power station.
Mr Bowen, in a recent interview with The Australian, said he had urged renewable developers to provide energy bill discounts to residents living near large-scale projects to help smooth the path for sweeping changes planned for key communities.
Local opposition is often blamed for delaying developments crucial to Australia’s clean-energy targets, with some communities feeling steamrolled by the scale and cumulative impact of new projects.
“I’ve said to a lot of companies, ultimately you’ve got to be thinking about energy discounts for people in the regions,” Mr Bowen said.
Some major developers are offering power bill rebates, cash payments or residential solar systems among a raft of sweeteners to residents living near proposed massive wind and solar farms.
However, landholders in impacted areas near the small towns of Coolah and Dunedoo, east of Dubbo, who will see their landscape transformed by more than 400 wind turbines along with new transmission towers, solar farms and temporary accommodation for more than 1500 construction workers, have not been offered bill relief despite residents’ protests that they are being forced to shoulder the burden of a poorly planned transition.
It’s understood three major developers in the region, Squadron Energy (Spicers Creek, 117 wind turbines); Acen (Valley of the Winds, 131 turbines, and Birriwa solar across 1440ha of grazing land), and; Tilt Renewables (Liverpool Range, 185 turbines) have not specifically offered bill rebates to impacted residents.
All the projects have received NSW and commonwealth approvals and are in the development stage.
Emma Bowman, a fifth-generation farmer from Dunedoo who has raised concerns about the impact of the CWO REZ on her community, said energy bill discounts were a “no-brainer” and rate relief should also be considered.
“While I’m in the camp that wouldn’t want anything from them, it makes sense as a way to give local communities a benefit from hosting this sort of stuff and putting up with the impacts,’’ she said.
“At least that would be something that everyone can benefit from equally.”
Andrew Bray, the national director of Re-Alliance, which works with communities caught in the shift to renewables, said cheaper power was often raised by residents.
“When we talk to people in these regions, it’s one of the first things they say to us when we ask them what kind of benefits they would like to see out of these projects,” he said.
“And they say, well, cheaper power. It’s a pretty obvious connection to make.”
Some residents’ groups have criticised developers for splashing cash wrapped up in secrecy deals to impacted neighbours, saying it allows them to buy their way out of proper consultation and divide communities into winners and losers. Others argue that no payment could compensate for the fundamental changes being forced on some regional pockets.
Mr Bray said any offers should be anchored in genuine consultation with communities that might nominate priorities other than bill relief. “The important things is that the proponents are listening to the communities and responding to them,’’ Mr Bray said.
A NSW parliamentary inquiry recently found “a significant proportion” of the Central-West Orana community believed the REZ had negatively impacted the region, leading to mental health concerns and the erosion of social cohesion, while a lack of central planning had left smaller communities facing significant cumulative impacts on local infrastructure, such as roads and services.
Residents are diverting time from their farms, businesses and families to keep across the changes, attend meetings, write submissions and study the reams of paperwork behind the REZ.
But there are other issues that get locals offside, Miss Bowman said, including the fallout from local tradies and farm workers being snapped up to work on accommodation camps.
“This is an area of low unemployment and what they’re essentially doing is poaching our tradesmen and workforce from the agricultural industry,’’ Miss Bowman said.
“We’ve asked, ‘who are you going to replace them with?’ and there’s never been an answer.’’
Amid concerns about social licence, many developers have been upping their offers, providing grants to charities and sporting groups, scholarships for local students, upgrades to local facilities, and direct payments to landholders within sight of their turbines.
Many are offering bill relief: Engie has pledged up to $1000 in annual electricity rebates for eligible residents near its projects. “This is one way to ensure our projects can have a positive impact on the local community,” the French multinational said.
In Victoria, homes within 3km of a turbine at Golden Plains wind farm have been offered annual power bill credits of about $1600, while Acciona gave eligible neighbours of the Mortlake South wind farm a pre-loaded EFTPOS card to spend at local businesses.
Stromlo Energy, which is working on The Pines wind farm near Oberon on the western fall of the Blue Mountains, is already offering $100 electricity bill credits to local government area residents, which will rise to $250 per year during construction (due to start in 2028 if approval is granted) and operation.
A spokesperson for Squadron Energy said it was trialling a “Power Promise Program”, which would provide a $1000 annual energy bill bonus to residents within 20km of stage one of the Clarke Creek wind farm in central Queensland.
“Renewables will ultimately lower energy costs for all Australians, but the communities enabling this transition should expect to see the benefits on their bills now,’’ the spokesperson said, adding that the company was hoping to expand the program to future projects, possibly including in the Central-West Orana.
Tilt Renewables said it consults with communities to understand their priorities and has provided neighbours with energy support through the provision of residential solar – for example, neighbours of the Dundonnell wind farm in Victoria were offered $15,000 towards solar and battery systems.
A spokesperson said neighbours of the Palmer wind farm in South Australia had nominated bill relief and this was being investigated.
“Investing in our communities is core to each Tilt Renewables project. Our commitment is to build clean-energy infrastructure and strengthen every community in which we operate with well-planned social investment,” Tilt Renewables CEO Anthony Fowler said.
A spokesperson from Acen Australia said a range of benefits could be offered to project neighbours, including direct payments and energy bill relief. “We consult with our neighbours to ensure benefits offered meet their needs, and that project value is shared in an equitable way, in line with potential project impacts and regulatory requirements.”
The NSW government said the requirement for developers to pay REZ access fees over 30 years would bring hundreds of millions in community benefits to the Central-West Orana and other renewable zones.
An initial $60m in grants were announced in May to deliver infrastructure and community-led projects.
Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Tony Mahar said it was not enough for landholders to benefit.
“The whole community must see the value,” he said.
“Communities are not just convenient locations for infrastructure. They are places of identity, history and deep local knowledge. And if we want this transition to work, we must stop seeing them as obstacles and start treating them as partners.”
More Coverage
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout